Rep. Judy Chu
(Armradio)- Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) has called for $10 million in U.S. aid to Artsakh and pushed back against State Department efforts to end life-saving Artsakh demining assistance, in powerful testimony offered before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, the body tasked to prepare the Fiscal Year 2021 Foreign Aid Bill.
“With at least 1.7 million square meters of contaminated areas still remaining, USAID is trying to end support for this program with little to no justification,” argued Rep. Chu.
She continues to explain, “this request of $10 million pales in comparison to the $100 million in security assistance given to Azerbaijan, so we can be sure that financial constraints are not the obstacle here. And it does not make sense to walk away from a program that USAID acknowledges has been successful while there are still so many acres of land left to clear.”
“If we are sincere in our commitment to peace, then we must support this request of $10 million, which will allow HALO to finish their work and remove the landmines and UXO that daily threaten the lives of civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh,” concluded Chu.