I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2585
To direct the Librarian of Congress to carry out activities to support
Armenian Genocide education programs, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL1, 2025
Ms. T
ITUS(for herself, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. LIEU, and Mr. VALADAO) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House
Administration
A BILL
To direct the Librarian of Congress to carry out activities
to support Armenian Genocide education programs, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Armenian Genocide 4
Education Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
(1) The United States has demonstrated a com-8
mitment to remembrance and education about the 9
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Armenian Genocide of 1915–1923 through the 1
United States Government’s May 28, 1951, written 2
statement to the International Court of Justice re-3
garding the Convention on the Prevention and Pun-4
ishment of the Crime of Genocide; through President 5
Ronald Reagan’s Proclamation No. 4838 on April 6
22, 1981; by H.J. Res 148, adopted on April 8, 7
1975; H.J. Res 247, adopted on September 10, 8
1984; H. Res. 296, adopted on October 29, 2019; S. 9
Res. 150, adopted on December 12, 2019; and 10
President Joe Biden’s April 24, 2021, statement 11
recognizing the Armenian Genocide. 12
(2) H. Res. 296 and S. Res. 150 cite the Otto-13
man Empire’s ‘‘campaign of genocide against Arme-14
nian, Greek, Assyrian, Chaldean, Syriac, Aramean, 15
Maronite and other Christians’’, and call on the 16
United States to— 17
(A) ‘‘reject efforts to enlist, engage, or oth-18
erwise associate the United States Government 19
with denial of the Armenian Genocide or any 20
other genocide’’; and 21
(B) ‘‘encourage education and public un-22
derstanding of the facts of the Armenian Geno-23
cide, including the United States role in the hu-24
manitarian relief effort, and the relevance of 25
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the Armenian Genocide to modern-day crimes 1
against humanity’’. 2
(3) Today, those who deny that the Ottoman 3
Empire systematically planned, organized, and im-4
plemented a campaign of genocide against Arme-5
nian, Greek, Assyrian, Chaldean, Syriac, Aramean, 6
Maronite, and other Christians or who seek to dis-7
tort the true nature of these crimes continue to find 8
forums, especially online. This denial and distortion 9
dishonors those who were persecuted, murdered, dis-10
possessed, and exiled, making it even more of a na-11
tional imperative to educate students in the United 12
States so that they may explore the lessons that 13
these crimes provide for all people, sensitize commu-14
nities to the circumstances that gave rise to these 15
crimes, and help youth be less susceptible to the 16
falsehood of genocide denial and distortion and to 17
the destructive messages of hate that arise from de-18
nial and distortion. 19
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 20
In this Act: 21
(1) A
RMENIAN GENOCIDE .—The term ‘‘Arme-22
nian Genocide’’ means Ottoman Turkey’s systematic 23
and deliberate state-sponsored mass murder, na-24
tional dispossession, cultural erasure, and exile of 25
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millions of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, 1
Chaldeans, Syriacs, Arameans, Maronites, and other 2
Christians, between 1915 and 1923. 3
(2) A
RMENIAN GENOCIDE EDUCATION PRO -4
GRAM.—The term ‘‘Armenian Genocide education 5
program’’ means a program that has as its specific 6
and primary purpose the improvement of awareness 7
and understanding of the history, lessons, con-8
sequences, and ongoing costs of the Armenian Geno-9
cide, and which will serve as a means of promoting 10
justice and preventing genocide, hate, and bigotry 11
against any group of people. 12
(3) D
ENIAL.—The term ‘‘denial’’ refers to dis-13
course and propaganda that claims that the Arme-14
nian Genocide did not take place. 15
(4) D
ISTORTION.—The term ‘‘distortion’’ refers 16
specifically to any attempt to excuse or minimize, in 17
its entirety or in its principal elements, the Arme-18
nian Genocide, including efforts to blame the victims 19
for causing their own genocide, or to portray the Ar-20
menian Genocide as a positive historical event. 21
(5) L
OCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY .—The term 22
‘‘local educational agency’’ has the meaning given 23
such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and 24
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Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 21 1
7801). 2
SEC. 4. PROGRAM DESCRIBED. 3
(a) E
STABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF PRO-4
GRAM.—The Librarian of Congress shall establish and 5
carry out a program to support Armenian Genocide edu-6
cation programs by— 7
(1) carrying out the activities described in sub-8
section (b); 9
(2) entering into agreements with program par-10
ticipants under section 5; and 11
(3) providing online resources under section 6. 12
(b) A
CTIVITIES.—The activities described in this sub-13
section are as follows: 14
(1) The development and national dissemination 15
of accurate, relevant, and accessible resources to 16
promote understanding about how and why the Ar-17
menian Genocide happened, which shall include dig-18
ital resources and may include other types of re-19
sources, such as print resources and traveling exhibi-20
tions. 21
(2) The development, national dissemination, 22
and implementation of principles of sound pedagogy 23
for teaching about the Armenian Genocide. 24
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(3) The provision of professional development 1
services for entities participating in the program 2
under an agreement entered into under section 5, 3
such as through— 4
(A) local, regional, and national workshops 5
and teacher trainings in conjunction with geno-6
cide education centers and other appropriate 7
partners; 8
(B) engagement with local educational 9
agencies and high schools and schools that in-10
clude one of the middle grades that are inde-11
pendent of any local educational agency; and 12
(C) the operation and expansion of a 13
teacher fellowship program to cultivate and sup-14
port leaders in Armenian Genocide education. 15
(4) Engagement with State and local education 16
leaders to encourage the adoption of the resources 17
developed and supported under the program estab-18
lished by this Act into curricula across diverse dis-19
ciplines. 20
(5) Evaluation and research to assess the effec-21
tiveness and impact of the Armenian Genocide edu-22
cation programs and the other activities carried out 23
under the program established by this Act, which 24
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may include the preparation and use of material for 1
the annual report required under section 8. 2
SEC. 5. ENGAGEMENT OF ELIGIBLE PROGRAM PARTICI-3
PANTS. 4
(a) A
GREEMENTSWITHPROGRAMPARTICIPANTS.— 5
The Librarian of Congress may enter into agreements 6
with eligible entities under which such entities may serve 7
as program participants in the program established by this 8
Act. 9
(b) C
ONTENTS OFAGREEMENTS.—An agreement en-10
tered into under this section between the Librarian and 11
an eligible entity shall include the following elements: 12
(1) A description of the services and assistance 13
provided to the entity by the Librarian. 14
(2) A description of the activities to be carried 15
out by the entity with such services and assistance. 16
(3) The length of the period in which the agree-17
ment shall be in effect. 18
(4) Such other elements as may be agreed to by 19
the Librarian and the entity, consistent with the 20
program established by this Act. 21
(c) E
LIGIBILITY.—An entity is eligible to serve as a 22
program participant in the program established by this 23
Act if— 24
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(1) the entity is a local educational agency, a 1
school that is independent of any local educational 2
agency, or an entity that works with or for a local 3
educational agency or a school that is independent 4
of any local educational agency; and 5
(2) the entity submits to the Librarian, at such 6
time and in such form as the Librarian may require, 7
an application containing such information and as-8
surances as the Librarian may require. 9
(d) P
RIORITY.—In selecting among eligible entities 10
for participating in the program established under this 11
Act, the Librarian shall give priority to applications from 12
entities who are local educational agencies, schools that 13
are independent of any local educational agency, or enti-14
ties that work with or for a local educational agency or 15
a school that is independent of any local educational agen-16
cy, that do not, at the time application is made, offer any 17
Armenian Genocide education program. 18
SEC. 6. ONLINE EDUCATION RESOURCES. 19
(a) W
EBSITE.—The Librarian of Congress shall 20
maintain on the website of the Library of Congress a pub-21
licly available special section designated for Armenian 22
Genocide education resources to improve awareness and 23
understanding of this Genocide and educate individuals on 24
the lessons of the Armenian Genocide as a means to raise 25
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awareness about the importance of preventing genocide, 1
hate, and bigotry against any group of people. 2
(b) I
NFORMATION DISTRIBUTION.—The Librarian 3
shall distribute information about the activities funded 4
under this Act through the website of the Library of Con-5
gress, and shall respond to inquiries for supplementary in-6
formation concerning such activities. 7
(c) B
ESTPRACTICES.—The information distributed 8
by the Librarian under this section shall include best prac-9
tices for educators on how to teach about the Armenian 10
Genocide. 11
SEC. 7. PRIVATE SUPPORT. 12
(a) A
CCEPTANCE OFDONATIONS.—The Librarian of 13
Congress may solicit, accept, hold, administer, invest, and 14
use donated funds and gifts, bequests, and devises of prop-15
erty, both real and personal, to support the activities car-16
ried out under this Act, subject to subsection (c). 17
(b) E
STABLISHMENT OF SEPARATEGIFTAC-18
COUNT.—There is established in the Treasury (among the 19
accounts of the Library of Congress) a gift account for 20
the activities carried out under this Act. 21
(c) D
EDICATION OFFUNDS.—Notwithstanding any 22
other provision of law— 23
(1) any funds donated to the Librarian to carry 24
out activities under this Act shall be deposited en-25
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tirely into the gift account established under sub-1
section (b); 2
(2) the funds contained in such account shall be 3
used solely to carry out activities under this Act; and 4
(3) the Librarian may not deposit into such ac-5
count any funds donated to the Librarian which are 6
not donated for the exclusive purpose of carrying out 7
activities under this Act. 8
SEC. 8. ANNUAL REPORT. 9
Not later than February 1 of each year (beginning 10
with 2026), the Librarian of Congress shall submit to the 11
Congress a report describing the activities carried out 12
under this Act. 13
SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 14
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 15
this Act $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2026 and each of the 16
4 succeeding fiscal years. 17
Æ
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