After two days of debate, the Soviet parliament again postponed a vote Monday on a long-promised bill that would institutionalize recent reforms in Soviet emigration policy.
A vote is now expected later this week, possibly Thursday, according to reports from Moscow.
According to officials from Soviet Jewry advocacy groups here who were in touch with observers in Moscow, a vote in favor of the bill took place Monday but fell short of the quorum needed to adopt legislation.
Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has pressed for the law for two years, because until it is adopted, the Soviet Union cannot get the credits and trade benefits it needs to aid its beleaguered economy.
President Bush has said that until the law is enacted, he will not ask Congress to ratify a trade pact he signed last spring with Gorbachev.
Bush has also made adoption of the law a condition for waiving the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the U.S. Trade Act of 1974. The amendment links emigration reform with trade benefits.
The president granted a partial waiver of Jackson-Vanik sanctions last year, allowing the Soviet Union to get $1 billion in credits to buy agricultural products needed to prevent starvation over the winter.
The Soviets are now requesting another $1.5 billion in credits for agricultural products. Bush indicated last week he would like to help Gorbachev because of the Soviet leader’s contributions to freedom in Eastern Europe and his support for the U.S.-led effort to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.
Soviet hard-liners have blocked passage of the emigration bill because of fears that it will cost too much to implement and lead to a “brain drain” of talent from the Soviet Union.
The bill not only makes it easier to emigrate but also to travel abroad. However, if the law is adopted, it will not go into effect until July 1992.
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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.
