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Senate Aid Panel Votes Sharp Cut in Aid to Armenia

SENATE AID PANEL VOTES SHARP CUT IN AID TO ARMENIA

WASHINGTON, JUNE 30, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. In a departure
from its traditional support for a robust U.S. assistance package for
Armenia, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee voted on June 29 to
dramatically reduce aid to Armenia, reported the Armenian National
Committee of America (ANCA).

Early reports from Capitol Hill indicate that the Senate
Appropriations Committee has approved a million economic aid package
for Armenia as part of its fiscal year 2007 aid bill. This allocation
was broken down into .2 million for Freedom Support Act aid, .96
million for the Democracy Fund, and .8 million for the Child Survival
Health Programs Fund. An additional .8 million was allocated for Peace
Corps programs in Armenia. The panel’s proposal is million less than
the actual allocations for Armenia over the past several years.

In a positive development, the Senate panel approved million for
humanitarian and relief assistance for Nagorno Karabagh, a million
increase over the fiscal year 2006 allocation of million. The panel
also voted to recommend equal amounts of U.S. Foreign Military
Financing (FMF) to Armenia and Azerbaijan, with each appropriated .5
million. The panel did not clarify, however, whether they intended
this parity to extend to the International Military Education and
Training (IMET) and Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining, and
Related Programs (NDAR) funds.

"We are troubled by the retreat of Senate appropriators from their
long-standing commitment to the U.S. aid program for Armenia and
Nagorno Karabagh – all the more so given Armenia’s impressive domestic
progress, robust and expanding bilateral relations with the United
States, peacekeeping support in Iraq and Kosovo, cooperation in
settling the Nagorno Karabagh conflict, and on other pressing regional
and security concerns," said ANCA Executive Director Aram
Hamparian. "We look forward to working with appropriators in both
houses of Congress to restore aid to at least last year’s level."

The Senate Appropriations Committee’s decision stands in contrast to
the House vote earlier this month, which allocated million in
U.S. economic aid for Armenia. Over the course of the past decade, the
Senate has consistently proposed higher levels of aid or Armenia than
the House.

The full Senate is expected to vote on the fiscal year 2007 foreign
aid bill following its return from the July 4th Congressional recess,
after which House and Senate appropriators will hold a conference to
work out differences between their two bills.

In March of this year, the Millennium Challenge Corporation – a newly
established, performance-based foreign aid program – approved a
five-year, 5 million assistance package to build roads and irrigation
systems in Armenia’s rural regions.

Chakrian Hovsep:
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