OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2018

Floor Speech

Date: Sept. 7, 2017
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Government Operations

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of my amendment, which ensures critical funding for ongoing demining projects in Nagorno-Karabakh.

As a result of land mines laid during the Nagorno-Karabakh war, the men, women, and children of the region have lived their lives under the constant threat of crippling injury or death from an exploding mine.

Not only have many families in Nagorno-Karabakh lost loved ones as a result of land mine accidents, families have had their entire livelihoods destroyed from economic and societal consequences.

Since 2000, the HALO Trust, an organization dedicated to restoring communities threatened by various weapons of war, has cleared more than approximately 90 percent of the minefields scattered throughout Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the organization, $8 million will be required to make the region mine-free by 2020. My amendment will help secure $1.5 million to be used as an important downpayment for this effort.

Mr. Chairman, ensuring families in Nagorno-Karabakh can live without fear of land mine accidents is indisputable, and I urge my colleagues in the House of Representatives to support my amendment.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT


Source
arrow_upward