US House of Representatives Introduces Armenian Defense Act

On February 8, Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. and Republican Congressmen Mike Lawler and Gas Bilirakis introduced the "Armenian Defense Act" in the US House of Representatives. This legislation proposes to suspend the authority to revoke the provisions of the FREEDOM Support Act's Section 907. This is reported by Armenian American organizations, as noted by Voice of America.

Section 907 states that the United States cannot provide financial assistance to the government of Azerbaijan until the President certifies and reports to Congress that the government of Azerbaijan is taking significant steps to cease all forms of blockade and other aggressive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

After September 11, the administration received the opportunity to temporarily suspend this provision to exempt Azerbaijan from the application of Section 907.

This legislative action comes at a time when the Senate passed the S.3000 bill, also known as the “Armenian Defense Act,” which was led by Democratic Senator Gary Peters and Republican Senator Marco Rubio.