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Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) testified for continued life-saving U.S. de-mining assistance to Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) on Tuesday, during a first-ever virtual testimony organized by the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, as this key panel gets set to finalize its Fiscal Year 2021 foreign aid priorities over the next two week, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

Rep. Sherman, who testified live on video, was joined by his colleagues Representatives Judy Chu (D-CA), David Cicilline (D-RI), Jim Costa (D-CA), TJ Cox (D-CA), John Garamendi (D-CA), Jim Himes (D-CT), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who submitted written testimony. Overall, ten of the thirty U.S. Representatives offering testimony cited their support for aid to Artsakh and Armenia.

Congressman Sherman, whose leadership led to the Congress first appropriating aid to Artsakh in Fiscal Year 1998, was clear and concise in his virtual testimony. “I urge the committee to strengthen the US-Armenia strategic partnership by supporting robust assistance for Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) in the FY21 State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs appropriations bill. Most importantly, I urge you to include $1.5 million for Artsakh demining and robust funding for regional rehabilitation services for survivors of landmine injuries, and language urging our continued efforts to help Nagorno Karabakh deal with the problems of mines, health and education projects.”

The Trump administration decided to cut U.S. aid for Artsakh de-mining efforts in 2019, arguing the decision to defund the program was motivated by the virtual completion of the project and the need to direct resources to higher priorities.