Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone and New Jersey Republican Frank LoBiondo were joined by dozens of their House Colleagues in urging Senate and House Appropriations Committee leaders to maintain $48 million in U.S. assistance to Armenia, increased aid to Nagorno Karabakh, and continued military assistance parity to Armenia and Azerbaijan in the fiscal year (FY) 2010 foreign aid bill, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
“We want to thank Congressmen Pallone and LoBiondo for leading this bipartisan outreach to members of the State-Foreign Operations Subcommittee – and also to express our appreciation to our friends serving on this panel, including Nita Lowey, Adam Schiff, Mark Kirk, Steve Rothman, and Jesse Jackson – for their work in support of the pro-Armenia provisions in the FY2010 foreign aid bill,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “We are hopeful that the conference committee, which will be called to reconcile the Senate and House versions of this legislation, will approve the higher House figures for aid to Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh, endorse the House’s decision to maintain military aid parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and support the House language reaffirming Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act.”
Earlier this year, both the House and Senate adopted their versions of the FY 2010 foreign aid bill, with the House adopting higher figures for Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh and including new language reaffirming Section 907 restriction on U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan, due to that country’s ongoing blockade of Armenia.
In an October 26th letter to the Chairs and Ranking Republicans of the Senate and House foreign aid subcommittees, the House Members cited the “approximately $680 million loss resulting from the Russia-Georgia conflict. We are reminded that Armenia provided humanitarian, diplomatic and economic assistance to Georgia, facilitated the safe transit for U.S. and international officials, and helped rebuild damaged Georgian infrastructure.”
In expressing its support for $3.45 million in military assistance to Armenia, the Congressional letter stated: “Armenia’s cooperation in anti-terrorism efforts and its deployment of forces to both Iraq and Kosovo are pivotal to U.S. interests. Armenia has entered into a NATO Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) and has worked closely with both NATO and the Defense Department on a range of bilateral and multilateral agreements, joint training programs, and military exercises.”
