Congressional Support Grows for Armenian Genocide Education Act

ANCA-Backed measure, led by Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Gus Bilirakis, Seeks $10 Million in Funding for Armenian Genocide Education

WASHINGTON, DC – Bipartisan Congressional support for the Armenian Genocide Education Act (H.R.7555) continues to grow, with 62 U.S. Representatives from across the country cosponsoring the measure spearheaded by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

The landmark ANCA-backed legislation, introduced on the eve of the international commemoration of the Armenian Genocide on April 24th, seeks to provide $10 million in funding over five years for the Library of Congress to help educate Americans about Ottoman Turkey’s systematic and deliberate state-sponsored mass murder, national dispossession, cultural erasure, and exile of millions of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Arameans, Maronites, and other Christians, between 1915 and 1923.

“The ANCA welcomes the growing momentum for swift passage of the Armenian Genocide Education Act (H.R.7555), a bipartisan measure to ensure that educators have the resources they need to teach about the Armenian Genocide in the framework of human rights and genocide prevention,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “Our ANCA regional and local teams are working hard with a broad coalition of educational, ethnic, and human rights groups to build Congressional and Administration support to enact this landmark bill.”

Armenian Genocide Education Act lead author Rep. Maloney, who is a former teacher, explained the importance of genocide education during moving remarks at the April 27th Capitol Hill Armenian Genocide Observance. “People are not born with hate; they learn it. But through education, we have to teach understanding and acceptance, and we have to teach the truth about the Armenian Genocide. Last year, President Biden made it clear that it is the official position of the U.S. that these systematic killings were ‘genocide,’ and it is now imperative that we ensure Americans have access to the resources they need to learn and teach about this atrocity.”

Rep. Maloney’s complete remarks at the Capitol Hill Armenian Genocide Observance are available here

The most recent congressional cosponsors of H.R.7555 include Representatives: Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Judy Chu (D-CA), Veronica Escobar (D-TX), Steven Horsford (D-NV), Jared Huffman (D-CA), James Langevin (D-RI), Susie Lee (D-NV), Edwin Perlmutter (D-CO), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Michelle Steel (R-CA), Haley Stevens (D-MI), and Tom Suozzi (D-NY).

They join lead authors Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Rep. Gus Bilirakis and original cosponsors, Representatives: Nanette Barragan (D-CA), Karen Bass (D-CA), Tony Cardenas (D-CA), David Cicilline (D-RI), Katherine Clark (D-MA), Lou Correa (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Danny Davis (D-IL), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), John Garamendi (D-CA), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Josh Harder (D-CA), Brian Higgins (D-NY), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Young Kim (R-CA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), Brenda Lawrence (D-MI), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), James McGovern (D-MA), Grace Meng (D-NY), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Joe Neguse (D-CO), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Scott Peters (D-CA), Katie Porter (D-CA), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Christopher Smith (R-NJ), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Jackie Speier (D-CA), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Dina Titus (D-NV), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Lori Trahan (D-MA), David Valadao (R-CA), and Juan Vargas (D-CA).

In addition to the ANCA, the Armenian Genocide Education Act already has the support of a diverse and growing coalition of ethnic, faith-based, and educational organizations, including the American Friends of Kurdistan, Armenian Assembly of America, Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights, Armenian National Institute, Assyrian Policy Institute, The Genocide Education Project, Hellenic American Leadership Council, Hindu American Foundation, In Defense of Christians, International Association of Genocide Scholars, Middle East Forum, and UCLA’s Promise Institute for Human Rights.

Building upon the 2019 passage of H.Res.296 and S.Res.150 – which specifically rejected any official U.S. association with Armenian Genocide denial – and President Biden’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the Armenian Genocide Education Act seeks to counter discourse and propaganda that claims that Ottoman Turkey’s systematic and deliberate state-sponsored mass murder, national dispossession, cultural erasure, and exile of millions of Christians between 1915 and 1923 did not take place.

To encourage members of Congress to cosponsor and work for the passage of this measure, visit https://anca.org/education.

The text of the resolution is available here.

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