House adopts amendment securing U.S. funding for Artsakh de-mining

PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. House on Thursday, September 7 adopted an amendment by Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) backing continued Congressional appropriations for the HALO Trust's life-saving de-mining across the interior farmlands and villages of the Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh).

The decisive move was welcomed by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), which spearheaded the launch of Artsakh aid in the 1990s and has, over the past two decades, secured tens of millions of dollars in life-saving U.S. assistance to the independent republic.

The Valadao Amendment was approved by voice vote, as part of the FY 2018 foreign aid appropriation, which, in turn, is part of a broader spending measure (H.R. 3354), which will be voted on as early as Friday.

Congressman David Valadao (R-CA), who serves as a Co-Chair of the Congressional Armenian Caucus, was joined in supporting this bipartisan measure by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA), House Intelligence Committee Ranking Democrat Adam Schiff (D-CA), and his fellow Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Jackie Speier (D-CA). Rep. Valadao introduced his measure on the House floor, as part of an en bloc series of amendments, and spoke passionately in support of its adoption.