WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Brad Sherman, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has, in the past week, pressed several Obama Administration officials – including Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and USAID Administrator Gayle Smith – for answers about proposed cuts in aid to Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), foot-dragging on a U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty, and the level of support being provided to help Armenia support refugees from Syria, reported the Armenian National Committee of America.

In a U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing Tuesday, Rep. Sherman cited the importance of a U.S.-Armenia Tax treaty to build upon ongoing U.S. assistance to Armenia, and pressed for the negotiation of such an accord. Responding to Secretary Lew’s assertion that there is no need for a Double Tax Treaty with Armenia, Rep. Sherman described the situation as a “chicken and egg” scenario, stating, “You don’t get the business investment, because you don’t have the tax treaty. Then you don’t need the tax treaty because you don’t have the business investment.” Rep. Sherman and Secretary Lew agreed to work together to review the matter.

And citing U.S. assistance for demining efforts, Rep. Sherman asked U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Gayle Smith why aid to Karabakh had decreased to $1.5 million. Administrator Smith noted that additional humanitarian assistance had been sent to the region in the past and both Rep. Sherman and Smith agreed to work together to help meet additional humanitarian needs there. Rep. Sherman went on to express specific concern about the low levels of U.S. assistance to Syrian refugees in Armenia.