“We are pleased that the House has acted to end this relic,” said Chairman Jack Rosen.  “The legislative source of the linkage, the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment, has outlived its usefulness. Jewish emigration from the countries of the former Soviet Union is thankfully no longer a problem. Continuing to use Jackson-Vanik as an instrument to express concern over continued instances of anti-Semitism, or other problems, is a mistake and Jewish organizations in Russia and Ukraine have said it is in fact hurting not helping their communities.” 

The Senate passed a similar bill in November. 

At the same time, Rosen said, there are troubling signs of the persistent and dangerous anti-Semitism in Ukraine. “We are especially concerned over the leadership of the university MAUP, whose latest outrage was to revive the charge that Jews slaughter Christian children for ritual purposes. We call on Ukrainian leadership to act with all legal and democratic means at its disposal to wrest control of MAUP from this dangerous clique.” 

Rosen commended Rep. Tom Lantos, the Ranking Democrat on House International Relations Committee, for “his courage and forthrightness in supporting the bill despite his “deep…concern… about the larger human rights questions and the failure to deal with anti-Semitism in Ukraine.” 

AJCongress-Council for World Jewry is part of the Jackson-Vanik Graduation Coalition, which represents over 250 businesses, and Ukrainian-American, Jewish-American and other non-governmental organizations and is partnered with the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia and the CIS. 

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