William R. Richardson: “I will include for the Record two letters from two distinguished United States ambassadors to Romania who served under…”

“I will include for the Record two letters from two distinguished United States ambassadors to Romania who served under Republican administrations strongly supporting this MFN issue. Mr. Speaker, I would hope that at the end of the debate our good friend and now colleague answers the question of the gentleman from California [Mr. Lantos]. That is, while he was ambassador to Romania, is it not correct that he signed and supported the MFN to Romania under Ceausescu? I think that the gentleman deserves an answer. We should not personalize these issues nonetheless because what we have here is bipartisan leaders from the Committee on International Relations, the Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade, and the minority members all supporting what we need to do. I think we have to ask ourselves two questions: The first is, why is this in the interest of the United States? And, second, what happens if this MFN does not take place? Well, we cannot say we are going to postpone it or do it after the elections. That would be a terrible signal. For all practical purposes, this MFN issue would not happen unless we voted today, and we should. First, Romania has met permanent MFN tests under United States law. It has been certified numerous times as meeting the Jackson-Vanik requirements on immigration. The administration is going to certify it again this June. Second, there is progress on human rights and democracy.”