On June 18th, the Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved the binding FY10 302(b) allocations for the 12 Appropriations Subcommittees. The Committee allocated $50.6 billion for the FY10 International Affairs Budget. This level is slightly lower than the House allocation and represents a 6 percent decrease from the Administration’s request of $53.9 billion. The largest portion of the International Affairs Budget is allocated to the State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Subcommittee at $48.7 billion, which is $100 million below the House Appropriations Committee-approved level and is $3.3 billion less than requested by the Administration. Following approval of the 302(b) allocations, Chairman Inouye announced his intention to complete mark-up of all 12 Appropriations bills prior to the August recess.

The House State, Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee unanimously approved on June 18th by voice vote the $48.8 billion FY10 State, Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. The funding level approved by the subcommittee is $3.2 billion or 6 percent below the President’s request and $1.2 billion or 2.4 percent below enacted FY09 spending, which includes the pending FY09 Supplemental. Although details of the bill have not been formally released by the subcommittee, according to the summary statement issued by Chairwoman Lowey the bill funds a number of key initiatives proposed by the Obama Administration.