Congressman Frank Pallone along with 27 members of Congress sent a letter to Chairwoman Kay Granger and Ranking Member Nita Lowey of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs, requesting increased funding for Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.
Pallone offers to increase assistance to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh
Congressman Frank Pallone along with 27 members of Congress sent a letter to Chairwoman Kay Granger and Ranking Member Nita Lowey of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs, requesting increased funding for Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.
Artsakhpress reports citing the website of the Armenian National Committee that in preparing the Fiscal Year 2015 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations bill, the lawmakers are requesting that the subcommittee support increased funding for U.S. assistance to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.
Specifically, the representatives are asking the subcommittee to direct the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) to spend at least $5 million in the fiscal year 2015 for humanitarian and development programs in Nagorno Karabakh and to ensure that at least $40 million in overall economic aid is appropriated for Armenia.
“We want to thank Congressmen Pallone and Grimm, and all their U.S. House colleagues who signed this letter, for helping to further strengthen the longstanding friendship of the American and Armenian peoples,” stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “We value their support for each of these foreign aid priorities and, more broadly, for their continued efforts to promote peace, stability, and democracy in this pivotal region of the world.”
Joining Pallone as signatories on the letter are members of Congress, Michael Grimm, Jackie Speier, John F. Tierney, Loretta Sanchez, Jim Costa, James R. Langevin, Barbara Lee, Gary Peters, Katherine Clark, Jared Polis, Linda Sanchez, Judy Chu, Rush Holt, Dan Lipinski, Collin Peterson, Grace F. Napolitano, Anna G. Eshoo, Tim Bishop, David Cicilline, Brad Sherman, James P. Mcgovern, Carolyn Maloney, Bruce Braley, Chaka Fattah, Stephen F. Lynch, Jan Schakowsky and Dina Titus.
The group also requested that the U.S. close distribution gaps in need-based aid to at-risk populations in Syria, including Armenians and Christian communities, fund sustainable job creation programs in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia, and suspend military aid to Azerbaijan until their government ceases cross-border attacks into Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia and agrees to settle regional conflicts by peaceful means.
