The administration of President Barack Obama has asked the U.S. Congress to approve a 38 percent reduction in U.S. economic assistance to Armenia, eliciting strong criticism from Armenian-American lobby groups.
The administration’s draft budget for the fiscal year 2010 unveiled on Thursday would reduce its total amount to $30 million and end direct U.S. aid to Nagorno-Karabakh, projected at $8 million in 2009, altogether. Separate U.S. funding for the Armenian military would remain virtually unchanged at approximately $3.5 million.
The main Armenian-American advocacy groups were quick to reject the proposed allocations and accuse Obama of breaking an election campaign pledge to “maintain our assistance to Armenia.” “This budget is fundamentally flawed,” Bryan Ardouny, executive director of the Armenian Assembly of America, said in a statement.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), for its part, said the proposed cut contrasts with a 9 percent rise in overall foreign aid spending sought by the Obama administration. “[Obama’s] proposal to sharply reduce vitally needed assistance to Armenia … is all the more disappointing in light of the urgent economic challenges facing Armenia,” said Aram Hamparian, the ANCA executive director.
Both the ANCA and the Assembly also deplored the fact that the administration is seeking to increase U.S. economic assistance to oil-rich Azerbaijan by 20 percent to $22.1 million in addition to $4 million in fresh military aid. "It is incomprehensible that a country which already has billions of dollars in oil and gas revenue would receive an increase in U.S. funding while the neighbor it blockades sees its funding decrease,” said Ardouny.
He said the Assembly will lobby pro-Armenian lawmakers to “reverse this proposal on all levels.” The ANCA is certain to do the same.
The two influential groups were instrumental in making Armenia a leading per-capita recipient of U.S. aid in the 1990s. Annual volumes of that aid have steadily decreased since then.
Total U.S. funding for Armenia since its independence has exceeded $1.6 billion. The U.S. government also approved in 2006 $236.5 million in additional aid to the country under its Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) program.
The main Armenian-American advocacy groups were quick to reject the proposed allocations and accuse Obama of breaking an election campaign pledge to “maintain our assistance to Armenia.” “This budget is fundamentally flawed,” Bryan Ardouny, executive director of the Armenian Assembly of America, said in a statement.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), for its part, said the proposed cut contrasts with a 9 percent rise in overall foreign aid spending sought by the Obama administration. “[Obama’s] proposal to sharply reduce vitally needed assistance to Armenia … is all the more disappointing in light of the urgent economic challenges facing Armenia,” said Aram Hamparian, the ANCA executive director.
Both the ANCA and the Assembly also deplored the fact that the administration is seeking to increase U.S. economic assistance to oil-rich Azerbaijan by 20 percent to $22.1 million in addition to $4 million in fresh military aid. "It is incomprehensible that a country which already has billions of dollars in oil and gas revenue would receive an increase in U.S. funding while the neighbor it blockades sees its funding decrease,” said Ardouny.
He said the Assembly will lobby pro-Armenian lawmakers to “reverse this proposal on all levels.” The ANCA is certain to do the same.
The two influential groups were instrumental in making Armenia a leading per-capita recipient of U.S. aid in the 1990s. Annual volumes of that aid have steadily decreased since then.
Total U.S. funding for Armenia since its independence has exceeded $1.6 billion. The U.S. government also approved in 2006 $236.5 million in additional aid to the country under its Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) program.