House leaders show support for Armenia, peace process

Published: Thursday June 25, 2009

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The House Appropriations Committee on June 23 approved the State-Foreign Operations bill, which allocates $48 million in aid to Armenia and $10 million to Nagorno-Karabakh in Fiscal Year 2010. The bill also sets military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan on equal footing, at $3.45 million each. It introduces requirements for closer scrutiny for a presidential waiver of Section 907, the provision that restricts U.S. aid to Azerbaijan.

The measure had been put forward on June 17 by the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs chaired by Rep. Nita Lowey (D.-N.Y.)

In adopting this measure, the subcommittee and now the full committee have sought to fix the disappointing budget request submitted last month by the Obama administration.

When campaigning for the presidency, Barack Obama had pledged, "As President, I will maintain our assistance to Armenia, which has been a reliable partner in the fight against terrorism and extremism."

U.S. aid has had a significant positive impact on the development of civil society, the rule of law, and democratic institutions in Armenia. Such capacity building remains crucial today.

But whereas Congress had appropriated $48 million in aid to Armenia in Fiscal 2009, Mr. Obama's administration asked for $30 million for Fiscal 2010. The Obama administration would thus have cut $18 million worth of programs in Armenia - at a time when it was asking for more money overall for foreign aid.

True, the Obama administration's request was higher than the Bush administration's last request. The Bush administration had asked for $24 million, which Congress doubled. But in assessing Mr. Obama's record, we hold him to his promises; simply doing better than his predecessor is not good enough.

Support for Azerbaijan's military

The administration had asked for $3.45 million in military aid to Armenia and $4.9 million in military aid to Azerbaijan. House appropriators cut the allocation to Azerbaijan down to match the allocation to Armenia.

Any military aid to Azerbaijan is risky in view of Baku's repeatedly declared intention to go to war over Nagorno-Karabakh. It is inconsistent with the administration's commitment to promote peace in the Caucasus.

The fact that the administration proposed to provide more money to Azerbaijan than to Armenia violated the longstanding principle of parity in military aid. Azerbaijan focuses its military spending on arms designed for aggression. As long as it continues to do so and to threaten Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, it is irresponsible to help Azerbaijan in its efforts to strengthen its military.

The subcommittee and now the full committee not only restored parity; they also reinforced Section 907, which restricts U.S. aid to Azerbaijan as long as Azerbaijan maintains its hostility to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. After the events of September 11, 2001, Congress agreed to allow the president to waive these restrictions in order to get Azerbaijan's support in helping to maintain U.S. national security. Congress is now reiterating the importance of this provision and requiring the president to justify any waiver.

Time to say thank you

Congress has thus taken serious steps to improve on the Obama administration's budget request. Still ahead is the Senate appropriations process, as well as the conference in which the House and Senate versions of the bill are reconciled.

What Rep. Lowey and her subcommittee have done should not be taken for granted. We should note the leading role of the subcommittee chairperson, Ms. Lowey - along with subcommittee members Rep. Mark Kirk (R.-Ill.), co-chair of the House Armenian Caucus, and Rep. Adam Schiff (D.-Calif.) - supported by Reps. Steve Rothman (D.-N.J.), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D.-Ill.), Betty McCollum (D.-Minn.), Barbara Lee (D.-Calif.), and Steve Israel (D.-N.Y.)

Full Appropriations Committee concurrence would not have been possible without the active support of committee chair Rep. David R. Obey (D.-Wis.)

Mr. Kirk and Armenian Caucus co-chair Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D.-N.J.) earlier had written to Ms. Lowey, urging her to do the right thing.

We in turn urge our readers to do the right thing and call these distinguished members of Congress to thank them for their leadership in this matter.

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