Washington, D.C. – Today, Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) announced that the House Foreign Affairs Committee has scheduled a vote on a resolution he authored recognizing and commemorating the Armenian Genocide. The House Foreign Affairs Committee has scheduled a full committee markup of H. Res. 106, the resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide, next Wednesday October 10, 2007. The bipartisan measure currently has 226 cosponsors – more than a majority in the House and the most support an Armenian Genocide resolution has ever received.
“The United States has a compelling historical and moral reason to recognize the Armenian Genocide, which cost a million and a half people their lives," said Rep. Schiff. "But we also have a powerful contemporary reason as well -- how can we take effective action against the genocide in Darfur if we lack the will to condemn genocide whenever and wherever it occurs?”
Rep. Schiff continued, “I thank Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos and Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen for their efforts to help move this important legislation forward.”
“The Affirmation of the U.S. Record on the Armenian Genocide” resolution calls on the President to “ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding” of the “Armenian Genocide” and to “accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide.” In September 2005, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs voted by an overwhelming margin of 40-7 to pass an Armenian Genocide Resolution with the same language as the current Resolution, H. Res. 106.
Rep. Schiff is a member of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, the co-founder of the Democratic Study Group on National Security and a member of the House Appropriations Committee, the House Judiciary Committee and the House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel. He represents California’s 29th Congressional District, which includes the communities of Alhambra, Altadena, Burbank, East Pasadena, East San Gabriel, Glendale, Monterey Park, Pasadena, San Gabriel, South Pasadena and Temple City.
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