S 3000 United States Senate · 118th Congress

Armenian Protection Act of 2023

This bill would repeal a long-standing provision (Section 907) of the Freedom Support Act that has blocked U.S. economic assistance to Armenia since 1997. It directly affects U.S. foreign aid policy toward Armenia by removing the legal ban on providing economic aid. The key mechanism is amending the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act to eliminate the specific restriction on aid funding. If passed, it would allow the U.S. government to provide economic assistance to Armenia without this historical limitation. The bill does not create new aid programs but changes the legal framework for existing aid.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Sep 2023

Committee Review

Nov 2023

Senate Passage

Nov 2023

House Passage

President

Introduced Sep 29, 2023 Last action Nov 17, 2023

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced in Senate → Engrossed in Senate · 2 edits · Nov 15, 2023

MINOR

Section 2 was rewritten from a technical reorganization of the Freedom Support Act waiver authority into a direct prohibition on the President exercising that waiver for fiscal years 2024 and 2025. This means the President can no longer override Section 907 restrictions (which block aid to countries deemed to support terrorism, notably Russia) for those two budget cycles without new legislation.

Scope change

The bill moved from a structural cleanup of existing law to an active restriction on presidential authority, limiting the scope of executive discretion over aid restrictions for two specific fiscal years.

SCOPE

The provision changed from a technical restructuring of existing waiver authority language to a flat prohibition on the President using that waiver for FY2024 and FY2025 appropriations.

TIMELINE

A two-year time limit (fiscal years 2024 and 2025) was added, after which the waiver authority would presumably become available again unless further action is taken.

Floor votes