House and Senate leaders late Thursday came to agreement on year-end legislative issues and filed the FY12 omnibus appropriations conference report, including the State-Foreign Operations bill.  With the current Continuing Resolution expiring at midnight tonight, both the House and Senate are expected to pass the bill today and send it to the President for his signature in order to avoid a government shutdown.  The omnibus measure provides $42 billion in base funding for State-Foreign Operations and $11 billion for overseas contingency operations, which results in roughly current levels for non-war related programs.

Must Reads

USGLC in the News

Foreign aid plays a valuable role in defending, promoting U.S. interests (Mark Schlackman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

One key area that is routinely mischaracterized and taken out of context is foreign aid, which represents less than 1 percent of the total federal budget yet helps to strengthen our allies, deprive extremists like al-Qaeda of new recruits, and protect millions of women and children from AIDS and preventable, life-threatening diseases like malaria, all vital to our national interests.

Who’s in the News

State Department, Foreign Assistance Avoid Deep Cuts in Funding (Emily Cadei, CQ)

The spending account for the State Department and foreign assistance programs ducked deep cuts in the funding package for fiscal 2012 that House Republicans released Thursday.  But lawmakers made clear that they will tightly control the funds they do dole out, requiring a number of conflict-ridden countries to meet strict requirements before receiving aid.

Smart Power

The Next, Next Global Superpowers: Why Africa Is Rising (Jim O’Neill, The Atlantic)

Overall, the African countries lurk near the bottom of our 180-country growth environment scores [a.k.a. GES, Goldman’s measure of a country’s long-term growth potential] and need to make a lot more progress across the board if they are to achieve their economic potential. Nigeria, though, has shown what can be done.

Politics/Foreign Policy

As Romney Steps Cautiously, Gingrich Duels With Others (Jeff Zeleny and Jim Rutenberg, The New York Times)

The leading Republican presidential candidates largely shelved their contentious attacks on one another to deliver their closing arguments on Thursday night at the final debate before the nominating contests begin, but Newt Gingrich did not escape sharp questions about his record in and out of government and his ability to defeat President Obama.

Government shutdown dodged: Congress finds deal (David Rogers, Politico)

Capping a roller coaster week, House and Senate negotiators signed off Thursday night on a $1 trillion-plus, year-end spending bill, which the leadership expects to bring to the House floor as early as Friday to put to rest any threat of a government shutdown.