1.     House Adopts 302(b) Allocations, Restores $1.3 Billion to State-Foreign
Operations Bill

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday adopted the FY 2011 302(b) allocations and voted to restore $1.3 billion of the $4 billion cut recently made to the State-Foreign Operations bill.  This brings the total allocation for the State-Foreign Operations bill to $53.9 billion in the House, roughly the same as last week’s Senate allocation and approximately $2.6 billion below the President’s request.

Compared to current enacted funding, this allocation is an increase of 6.9%. Including pending FY10 supplemental funds, however, it would represent a 4.9% reduction from total FY 2010 funding.

During debate on the 302(b) allocations, the Committee rejected by a party-line vote of 20-36  an amendment offered by Congressman Bill Young (R-FL) that would have redirected the $1.3 billion from the State-Foreign Operations bill to the Defense bill.  In opposing the Young amendment, State-Foreign Operations Subcommittee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) argued that civilian needs are great and that these funds are critical to America’s success throughout the world.  Chairman Obey (D-WI) also reflected that some Members are too quick to add money for tools of war rather than tools of diplomacy that can prevent wars.

Indications are the Senate Appropriations Committee will mark up its State-Foreign Operations bill next Thursday, July 29^th. The State-Foreign Operations Subcommittee will report the bill out from the subcommittee on Tuesday.

2.     House Increasingly Likely to Adopt Senate’s FY 2010 Supplemental Bill

After last night’s failure by the Senate to adopt the House-passed FY 2010 supplemental, which included $22 billion in additional domestic spending not included in the Senate version, it’s likely that the House will pass the Senate bill before adjourning for the August recess. The domestic spending, which included funds for Pell grants and to avert teacher layoffs, has been a sticking point for weeks as lawmakers try to get the long-debated supplemental bill to the President’s desk. The Senate’s $58.8 billion bill, passed  on May 27^th, includes $6.3 billion for the International Affairs Budget, mainly for Haiti disaster relief and programs in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan