Humanitarian Crisis in Artsakh
Floor Speech
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Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, for 46 days, the Government of Azerbaijan has forcibly cut off 120,000 ethnic Armenians in the Republic of Artsakh. They are cut off from the outside world. Food has become scarce. They have to ration even basic items. Diapers and medicine supplies have become so low that Facebook pages are opening where residents are trying to find these items from their neighbors. Residents are separated from their families on the other side of the border in Armenia, including children who have been attending school or visiting families.
Azerbaijan has even gone so far as to cut off natural gas during the depth of winter. A humanitarian crisis is brewing, and we should act to prevent it.
Let's be clear about what this attempt is. It is an attempt by Azerbaijan to force Artsakh's ethnic Armenian population out of their homes by making life in Artsakh impossible. The tactic is blockade. The effect is civilian deprivation. The object is ethnic cleansing.
But don't take my word for it. Listen to Azerbaijani dictator Aliyev who made his intentions clear when this blockade unfolded by saying, ``Whoever does not want to become our citizen . . . can leave.'' What does he mean? The ethnic Armenians are citizens. They are citizens of the Republic of Artsakh, but Aliyev doesn't recognize that citizenship and instead uses it as an excuse to say that he wants to ethnically cleanse these 120,000 people.
I am glad that Secretary Blinken earlier this week called on President Aliyev to end this blockade, but we know that dictators don't often respond to calls for justice. I urge the administration to put real weight behind these calls by making clear that there will be consequences to Azerbaijan by plunging the people of Artsakh into this humanitarian disaster, including sanctions if necessary.
The administration should enforce section 907 to stop all military assistance to Azerbaijan and to provide critical humanitarian aid to the people of Artsakh, actions that are long overdue.
Ever since I came to Congress almost 27 years ago, I have introduced and fought for a resolution to recognize the Armenian genocide, the first genocide of the 20th century. Back then it was not uncommon for Members of this body to minimize or even deny the systematic ethnic cleansing and murder of 1\1/2\ million Armenians, Greeks, or Syrians and others by the Ottoman Empire, but Armenian Americans and their allies did not give up. For decades, they spoke truth to power and turned the political tide until the Armenian genocide was recognized by this House and then by President Biden. It may have taken longer, but we got there.
This is a painful moment for the Armenian community. I am confident that the Armenian people will rise in strength. Armenians have outlived those who said there was no Armenian genocide, and they will outlive those who say there is no Artsakh.
I urge the Biden administration and all Members of this body to take a forceful stance against Azerbaijan's shameful attempts at ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population of Artsakh through this deadly blockade. Debt Limit Crisis
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Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, we have already hit the debt limit. Republicans say they want to negotiate. We negotiate about spending all the time. What they really mean is that they want additional leverage by threatening this country with a default on our debt, which would cost us, according to Moody's Analytics, 6 million jobs, a 9 percent unemployment rate, $15 trillion lost in our investment markets.
Already they are dillydallying with this debt limit. Their playing Russian roulette with our economy has already hurt our economy. As the chief Democrat on the Capital Markets Subcommittee, I am here to tell you that the cost of capital is higher and projects are not going forward because of the actions they have taken so far.
They want to negotiate? They want to negotiate going backward. They want to negotiate reducing Social Security benefits. They want spending cuts, but they won't specify what they want. If we are going to negotiate, let's negotiate going forward. Let's talk about increases in Social Security benefits, let's negotiate getting rid of the $2 trillion of unjustified Trump tax cuts that went chiefly to corporations and the wealthy.
You want to negotiate? Fine, we will negotiate going forward, but ultimately we will end up with a clean debt limit. You can't just love your country when your guy is in the White House. You can't play Russian roulette just because you don't like the President and you think that President will take the political hit. We need to show the world that our governance in America is sound and that our economy is worthy of investment.
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