WASHINGTON, DC – In letters circulated today to Members of the House of Representatives, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) highlighted the growing support for the Armenian Genocide Resolution among members serving on Congressional committees dealing with America’s defense capabilities, intelligence community, foreign policy, and homeland security.
“We are deeply gratified by the strong, bipartisan support for the Armenian Genocide Resolution among Members of Congress responsible for our nation’s defense and foreign policies,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “Beyond the clear moral issues at stake in America’s principled stand against all genocides, these Members realize that Turkey, by coming to terms with this crime, will lower regional tensions, open the door to improved relations with Armenia, and ultimately contribute to its own acceptance by the European family of nations.”
Armed Services:
Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA), the senior Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, recently agreed to cosponsor the Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.106, making him the sixteenth member of the influential panel to add his name to this human rights measure.
In addition to Ranking Member Hunter, other members of the Armed Services Committee who support the measure include several subcommittee chairmen: Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), who heads the Air and Land Forces Subcommittee; Martin Meehan (D-MA), who chairs the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, and; Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), who presides over the Strategic Forces Subcommittee. Other Committee members include Robert Andrews (D-NJ), Dan Boren (D-OK), Robert Brady (D-PA), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Susan Davis (D-CA), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Howard McKeon (R-CA), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Candice Miller (R-MI), Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Mark Udall (D-CO), and Joe Wilson (R-SC).
Intelligence:
The Armenian Genocide Resolution also enjoys bipartisan support among members of the House Intelligence Committee, including Mike Thompson (D-CA), who chairs the panel’s Subcommittee on Terrorism and Human Intelligence, Analysis and Counterintelligence, and Anna Eshoo (D-CA), who heads the Subcommittee on Intelligence Community Management. Other cosponsors on the Committee include Rush Holt (D-NJ), Darrell Issa (R-CA), James Langevin (D-RI), Rick Renzi (R-AZ), Mike Rogers (R-MI), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and John Tierney (D-MA).
Foreign Affairs:
Twenty-four members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the panel with jurisdiction over the measure, have already cosponsored H.Res.106. This figure includes five of the panel’s seven Subcommittee Chairmen: Donald Payne (D-NJ), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health; William Delahunt (D-MA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight; Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia; Brad Sherman (D-CA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Trade, and; Eliot Engel (D-NY), Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.
State Department Appropriations:
Nine of the thirteen members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee with jurisdiction over the State Department have cosponsored the Armenian Genocide Resolution. Among the supportive members of the State-Foreign Operations Subcommittee are its Chairwoman, Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Ranking Republican, Frank Wolf (R-VA). Other cosponsors on the panel include Steve Israel (D-NY), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), Mark Steven Kirk (R-IL), Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Steven Rothman (D-NJ), and the resolution’s author Adam Schiff (D-CA).
Homeland Security:
Eighteen of the thirty-three members of the House Committee on Homeland Security are also cosponsors of the Armenian Genocide resolution, including: Loretta Sanchez, Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism; James Langevin (D-RI), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology; Jane Harman, Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment, and; Sheila Jackson Lee, Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection. Other Congressional cosponsors on the panel include Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Charles Dent (R-PA), Al Green (D-TX), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Nita Lowey (D-NY), Dan Lungren (R-CA), Edward Markey (D-MA), Michael McCaul (R-TX), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Edwin Perlmutter (D-CO), Mike Rogers (R-MI), Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Mark Souder (R-IN).
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