Legislation
House Legislation
FY12 State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill – The House State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee approved its FY12 appropriations bill by voice vote on July 27. The legislation includes deep cuts to the International Affairs Budget. The $47.2 billion measure includes $39.6 billion for non-war related “core” programs and $7.6 billion for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq within the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account. While the bill fully funds the President’s OCO request, with some new restrictions on this assistance, it contains dramatic reductions to many non-war related programs. Overall, non-OCO accounts are cut $5 billion (-11%) below FY11 levels and an alarming $9.7 billion (-20%) below FY10 levels. Bearing the brunt of these cuts are State and USAID operations and multilateral and development assistance. Specific cuts in these areas range between 16% and 35% below current funding (FY11) levels.
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FY12 House State Department-Foreign Relations Authorization Act (H.R. 2583) – The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved its FY12 State Department-Foreign Relations Authorization Act by a vote of 23-20. The 161-page legislation, authored by Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), authorizes FY12 appropriations for State Department and foreign assistance programs and makes several significant policy changes. The bill generally maintains authorization levels at current FY11 levels. In some cases, however, this represents funding far below the FY12 request levels as well as FY10 funding.
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H.R. 1473 – The final FY11 spending agreement (H.R. 1473) cut $38.5 billion from FY10 spending levels, including $6.5 billion from the International Affairs Budget. The funding level for the International Affairs Budget, $50.1 billion, is an 11.4% cut from FY10 enacted levels and 14.7% from the President’s FY11 request. The Senate and the House both passed H.R. 1473 on April 14.
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FY12 Budget Resolution (H. Con. Res. 34) – The House passed, 235-193, on April 15 an FY12 budget resolution that funds the International Affairs Budget at $41.0 billion, 27% below FY10 enacted levels, 18% below FY11 levels, and 34% below the President’s request. The budget resolution fully funds the $8.7 billion Overseas Contingency Operations account but reduced the “core” account from $53.1 billion to $32.3 billion.
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Alternative Budgets (all failed on April 15):
- • House Democrats: fully funded the President’s International Affairs Budget request ($61 billion) and noted that “U.S. national security depends upon a well-coordinated strategy that involves the Department of Defense, the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, and international affairs programs – including those at the Department of State and the Agency for International Development”; rejected by a vote of 166-259.
• Republican Study Committee: reduced overall non-defense discretionary spending (including International Affairs Budget) by 50%; rejected by a vote of 119-136.
• Congressional Black Caucus: funded the International Affairs Budget at $59 billion (nearly the President’s requested level); rejected by a vote of 103-303.
• Congressional Progressive Caucus: boosted funding well beyond the request level, to a total of $106 billion; rejected by a vote of 77-347.
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H.R. 1 – The House passed on February 19 an FY11 Continuing Resolution (H.R. 1) that funds the International Affairs Budget at $45.9 billion, 19% below FY10 enacted levels and 22% below the President’s FY11 request. On March 9, the Senate rejected H.R. 1 by a vote of 44-56.
Senate Legislation
FY12 Senate State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill
On September 21, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the FY12 State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill by at 28-2 vote. The committee’s $53.34 billion mark provides $44.64 billion for non-war related programs, which is effectively flat compared to FY11 levels and $5 billion higher than the House bill.
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FY12-13 State Department Authorization Bill – Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) released his FY12-FY13 State Department Authorization Bill on July 27. Chairman Kerry stated that his legislation “demonstrates our commitment to building our nation’s civilian capacity and providing our diplomatic corps with the essential tools, authorities, and resources to succeed in the demanding jobs we continually require of them.” On both funding and policy, the bill is a marked improvement from the authorization bill (H.R. 2583) passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on July 21.
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Senate Alternative FY11 CR – The Senate Democrats’ alternative package to H.R. 1 funded the International Affairs Budget at $52.3 billion, 7.6% below FY10 enacted levels. On March 9, the Senate rejected the bill by a vote of 42-58 with all Republicans and 11 Democrats voting against it.
