US Representative Luna Introduces Bill to End Aid Restrictions on Azerbaijan

According to the amendment, the US president “may not provide assistance to the government of Azerbaijan and local governments under this or any other law unless he determines and reports to Congress that the government of Azerbaijan has taken steps to lift the blockade and other use of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.” Thus, Azerbaijan was the only post-Soviet country that did not benefit from the Freedom Support Act, at least until 2001, when the bill was amended so that the president has the authority to temporarily waive the restrictions. Since then, it has been waived several times, though the restrictions were never entirely removed.

As part of the historic meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and US President Donald Trump in Washington in August 2025, Trump authorized section 907 to be temporarily waived, but not fully removed, which can only be done by an act of Congress.

Luna has not made public comments on her decision to put forward the bill, which was welcomed in Azerbaijani media.

A member of Congress from Florida, she has long been a close ally of Trump and is considered to be one of the more pro-Russian members of the House.

Separately, on Wednesday, December 10, Luna said she would co-sponsor a bill put forth by her Republican colleague Thomas Massie to withdraw the US from NATO.

(This article originally appeared in oc-media.org on December 11.)