Armenian Reporter:

White House requests $40mln in 2011 Armenia aid

Armenian American reaction to proposal mixed

Published: Monday February 01, 2010

President Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Jan. 27. Official White House photo by Pete Souza

Last year Congress's Armenian allocation included $41 million in economic aid, $8 million to Karabakh and $3 million in military aid. Those allocations were made after the Obama Administration requested just $30 million in economic and $3.5 million in military aid and made no specific request for Karabakh programs.

As in the past this year's request has no specific Karabakh allocation. The 2011 request also includes $3.95 million in military aid to Armenia.

The Administration also asked for $22.1 million in economic and $4.4 million in military aid to Azerbaijan, levels unchanged from 2010 budget request.

Community reaction

Armenian-Americans and their congressional friends welcomed the request with some reservations.

"The Obama Administration has corrected its approach regarding aid to Armenia by proposing an amount close to what Congress mandated last year," said Ross Vartian of U.S.-Armenia Public Affairs Committee.

"However, the administration persists in excluding Karabakh and in proposing asymmetrical military assistance in favor of Azerbaijan," Mr. Vartian added. "As has been the case since Congress first mandated assistance to Karabakh and military assistance parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan, we call upon the community's friends in Congress to continue aid to Artsakh and military aid parity."

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), founding co-chair of the Congressional Armenian Caucus, also criticized aspects of the request.

"I am disappointed to see that [military] funding proposed by President Obama broke with the long-held practice of parity in military financing between Armenia and Azerbaijan," Mr. Pallone said in a statement. "At a time when Azerbaijan is making aggressive statements towards Nagorno Karabakh Republic and threatening war, this administration must follow Congress's lead and ensure military parity."

"Additionally, the budget proposal should have provided for direct developmental and humanitarian assistance to Nagorno Karabakh," Mr. Pallone added. "Remaining silent on specific foreign assistance to this democracy is something I can not support."

In its statement, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) praised Mr. Pallone, as wells as Chair of the House Foreign Appropriations Subcommittee Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) for their role in "educating the Administration about vital need for increased aid to Armenia."

Congressional appropriators will review the Obama Administration's funding proposals later this year.

The larger bill

The overall Administration request for 2011 State Department and international affairs, which includes foreign aid programs, amounted to $53.8 billion, up from $51.7 billion requested in 2010.

But "Assistance for Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia" account, which includes Armenia aid, saw an overall decline from $742 to $716 million.

Meantime, the 2011 request for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) programs saw an increase from $875 million to $1.3 billion.

Last year, Armenia saw its MCC program cut from $235 to $168 million over five years after the United States charged the Armenian government with democratic shortcomings.

At the same time, U.S. expanded MCC programs in Georgia and launched a new $262 million program with Moldova.

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Obama's "Change"

The proposed US Aid does not help Armenia; in reality it is corruption-money. Armenia should reject this offer – and send a message back to the US State department that complicity in genocide denial is not acceptable; tacitly supporting Turkey’s hostile blockade for the past 17 years is not acceptable; and coercing Armenia to capitulate on a TARC or Protocols will not work. Berge Jololian

By bjololian at February 02, 2010

Thanks, but really no thank you

Perhaps Obama and his administration should keep the $40 million in aid to Armenia, and instead, lift off US Sate Department diplomatic pressure, and arm twisting a tiny landlocked country; in return redirect US State Department pressure on Turkey to lift its hostile-blocakde. Now that Georgia is deemed unrelaible and unstable by the West as a gateway to Central Asian gas & oil; Armenia's geo-strategic importance as the only viable alternative is certainly worth more than the meagre pocket change proposed by President Obama. Compared to the billions of US aid and US investmetns in Georgia, the US should try much harder with Armenia.

By bjololian at February 01, 2010

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