Washington -- The House of Representatives has shown its support for the plight of the Chaldean/Assyrian/Syriac people of Iraq by including $10 million in the House version of the Supplemental Appropriations Bill of 2008. This funding is in addition to the $10 million included in the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Act. With the House passage of this legislation, Iraq's ethno-religious minorities are one step closer to benefiting from economic development programs and projects that are key to helping them stay and rebuild their future in Iraq.

Specifically, the Explanatory Statement accompanying the bill included the following language:

Provincial Economic Growth. The amended bill includes $40,000,000 for provincial economic growth activities, of which $10,000,000 should be available for programs to assist vulnerable Iraqi minority groups, including Christians. The Secretary of State should designate staff at United States Embassy Baghdad to oversee and coordinate such assistance.

This is a tremendous victory for the advocacy efforts of the newly formed Chaldean Assyrian Syriac Council of America (CASCA). CASCA is grateful to the policy's Congressional champions and co-chairs of the House Caucus on Religious Minorities in the Middle East Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and Congressman Frank Wolf along with Caucus Member Congressman Joe Knollenberg.

Representative Anna Eshoo, co-chair of the House Caucus said: "I'm pleased that the amendment contains $10 million for vulnerable Iraqi minorities. The needs of the Assyrians could not be greater