Dr. Jacob Birnbaum, national director of the Center for Russian and East European Jewry, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that he was not seeking to block the extension of most favored nation (MFN) trade status to Rumania when he urged American Jews last week to support letters circulating in both houses of Congress warning the Rumanian government to improve its emigration procedures for Jews and others.
In a clarification of remarks he made to the JTA last Thursday, Bimbaum said he hoped resolutions rejecting MFN for Rumania could be avoided if a strong enough signal is sent to Bucharest. He said this depended on the number of signatures to the letters being circulated in the Senate by Daniel Moynihan (D. NY) and William Armstrong (R. Colo.) and in the House by Stephen Solarz (D. NY) and Robert Dornan (R. Calif.). According to Birnbaum, the House letter had 100 signatures at the end of last week and the Senate letter 35.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
