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Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), co-chairmen of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, said today that the U.S. House of Representatives has approved a final omnibus spending bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 that once again guarantees continued military parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
In the final bill, both Armenia and Azerbaijan will receive $3 million in military funding. Such funding parity is a rejection of the Bush administration's FY 2008 budget, which proposed $4.4 million for Azerbaijan while only $3.3 million for Armenia.
"We commend our colleagues for once again rejecting military imbalance that the Bush administration continues to encourage through its budget proposals," Pallone and Knollenberg said. "With Azerbaijan's continued blockade of Armenia, it is more important than ever to maintain foreign military funding parity between these two nations."
The omnibus bill also included $58.5 million in economic assistance to Armenia. Both Pallone and Knollenberg had hoped that the final omnibus bill would have been more in line with a Foreign Operations bill that passed the House earlier this year that included $68 million for Armenia. Unfortunately, a Senate bill that was approved at the committee level but never by the full Senate, only provided $39 million for in economic assistance to Armenia.
"While we are disappointed with the overall funding level for economic assistance to Armenia, we recognize that the overall foreign operations budget for all countries took a significant hit this year and we are grateful for the assistance that was passed today," Pallone and Knollenberg said.
"We fully support maintaining a high level of economic assistance to Armenia to help the country overcome the dual blockade by Azerbaijan and Turkey, which continues to impede Armenia's economic well-being," the two co-chairs continued. "Despite the dual blockades, Armenia continues to implement economic and democratic reforms that have been successful in recent years. While Armenia continues to make important reforms, the U.S. must continue to provide robust assistance in order to minimize the negative impacts it suffers from the blockades on its east and west borders."
The funds for Armenia were included in a giant $555 billion spending bill that combines 11 appropriations bills into one omnibus bill funding domestic programs and foreign operations for FY 2008, which officially began on October 1, 2007. The bill now goes to the president's desk, where he is expected to sign it.
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