U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS VOTES FOR REDUCTION OF ASSISTANCE TO ARMENIA TO $30 MILLION

ArmInfo
2009-07-10 16:19:00

ArmInfo. Today, Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations
approved the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 State, Foreign Operations
Appropriations Bill by a vote of 29 to 1, reported the Armenian
Assembly of America (Assembly). The Bill provides $30 million for
Armenia , which is $18 million less than the FY 2009 level.

" U.S. assistance to Armenia helps to offset the impact of Turkey ‘s
ongoing blockade of Armenia , and the Assembly will continue to work
with both the Senate and House to ensure the best possible outcome
for Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh," said Assembly Executive Director
Bryan Ardouny.

The Senate followed the lead of the Obama Administration, which
proposed a sharp reduction in funding to Armenia from last year’s
level of $48 million.

The Senate bill also mirrored the Administration’s request with
respect to assistance to Azerbaijan , calling for $22 million.

According to Assembly sources, at the time of this release, Foreign
Military Financing (FMF) and International Military Education Training
(IMET) were not delineated for Armenia and Azerbaijan .

Although the numbers are not currently available, the Assembly
expects military parity to be maintained. Sources also indicate that
language pertaining to Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act, which
was strengthened by the House Appropriations Committee last month,
will remain in place.

Commenting on this event to ArmInfo, AAA Regional Director Arpi
Vardanyan said the according to the bill adopted by the U.S. Senate
Committee on Appropriations, no assistance has been envisaged for
Nagorno Karabakh.

However, she said, the Committee on Appropriations voted a month ago
for retention of the economic assistance to Armenia in the budget for
the next fiscal year at the level of 2008, i.e. $ 48 mln and increase
of humanitarian assistance to Nagorno Karabakh to $10 mln. ‘At last,
U.S. Senate and House of Representatives will form a joint commission
to determine the final volumes of assistance’, A. Vardanyan said.