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International Affairs Budget Update
June 24, 2016
1. House State-Foreign Operations 302(b) Finally Announced: Modest
Cut
2. After Contentious Evening, House Approves Zika Supplemental
3. More Bipartisan Legislation Moves Forward:
* Foreign Aid Transparency Moves Closer to Passage
* Global Food Security on the Five-Yard Line
* Digital GAP Act Introduced

1. House State-Foreign Operations 302(b) Finally Announced:
Modest Cut

As Congress grinds toward an extended summer recess in mid-July, the
House Appropriations Committee released its FY17 State-Foreign
Operations Appropriations bill this week-one of the last bills
to be released by the Committee.

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=Db45zcYwRBdEt9JinQa8cA

The Committee provides a total of $52.0 billion for the FY17
State-Foreign Operations bill, which funds 96% of the International
Affairs Budget. This is about 1% (approximately $600 million) below
current levels and is slightly below both the Administration's
request and the Senate's 302(b) allocation. The bill provides
$37.1 billion in base funding, which includes funding for long-term
development and diplomacy programs, and $14.9 billion in Overseas
Contingency Operations (OCO) funding, which is used to fund emergency
situations, war-related programs, and other global crises.

With the two-year budget deal reached last year that kept overall
discretionary spending relatively flat, the 1% cut in funding is
fairly modest given earlier proposals to cut these programs deeply.
However, even with a modest cut-as well as the supplemental
funding working its way through Congress to combat the Zika
virus-real concern remains that these funding levels are not
keeping pace with numerous, growing global challenges.

State-Foreign Operations Snapshot

FY16 Enacted
FY17 Request
FY17 Senate SFOPS
FY17 House SFOPS

Base
$37.8 billion
$37.7 billion
$37.2 billion
$37.1 billion

OCO
$14.9 billion
$14.9 billion
$14.9 billion
$14.9 billion

Total
$52.7 billion
$52.6 billion
$52.1 billion
$52 billion


The bill contains several policy riders and prohibitions on funding
that will likely be met with Democratic resistance as the legislation
moves through the appropriations process, including a prohibition on
funding for the Green Climate Fund and certain UN agencies.

While more details will become available when the Committee releases
its report (most likely after the bill is considered by the full
committee), the FY17 bill:

Boosts Funding for International Security Assistance, Diplomatic
Security and Global Health

* International Security Assistance: The bill provides roughly
$200 million increase from FY16 levels. International
Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement programs receive the
largest boost but Foreign Military Financing, International
Military Educational Training, and Peacekeeping Operations also
receive increases.

* Diplomatic and Embassy Security: The bill increases funding by
about $455 million compared to current levels.

* Global Health Programs: The bill increases funding by $413
million, approximately 5% above current levels. Funding for
sub-accounts is not yet available although the appropriations
press release notes that the Global Health Security account
received a significant increase compared to current levels.

http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=Wrw0BLvA5wYNm4YkYzQb0g

Cuts Funding for Multilateral Assistance, Economic Support Funds and
UN Organizations and Peacekeeping

* Multilateral Assistance: The bill cuts funding by $877 million
(roughly one-third) from current levels and zeros out funding
for voluntary contributions to the International Organizations
and Programs account and the Green Climate Fund.

* Economic Support Funds (ESF): The bill cuts funding by $278
million (6%) from FY16 levels.

* UN and UN Peacekeeping: The bill cuts funding for the UN and
other international organizations by $100 million (7%) compared
to current spending. It also reduces funding for UN Peacekeeping
Operations by $511 million (21%).

Funds Other Accounts at their FY16 Levels

* Humanitarian Assistance: Compared to current levels, the bill
holds funding for Migration and Refugee Assistance,
International Disaster Assistance, and Emergency Migration and
Refugee Assistance essentially flat at $5.9 billion. This,
however, amounts to a major (23%) increase above the
Administration's request, which argued that because of a
large increase in FY16 less funding was needed for these
accounts in FY17.

* Development Assistance: The bill maintains flat funding for the
Development Assistance account at $2.8 billion.

Next Steps

The State-Foreign Operations Subcommittee had planned to markup the
bill this week, but the partisanship that erupted in the House on
Wednesday over the aftermath of the Orlando tragedy stalled
consideration of the funding bill. Instead, the House recessed and
will return in early July. As of now, the Committee is expected to
re-schedule the Subcommittee markup for early July, before the summer
break for the Conventions, with a full Committee markup following
afterward. However, given the heightened political tension, it may
prove difficult to move any legislation through Committee let alone
the House floor.

The appropriations process has moved much more smoothly on the Senate
side-although it is not without its difficulties. The
State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee and full
Committee could approve their version of the FY17 bill as soon as next
week.

Regardless of how far the appropriations process moves in either
Chamber, both the House and Senate are expected to pass a short-term
Continuing Resolution that will fund the government through the end of
the year, with final funding decisions being made during the lame duck
session.

2. After Contentious Evening, House Approves Zika Supplemental

On the heels of the House Democrats' sit-in over gun control,
early Thursday morning Republican leadership brought a Zika
supplemental conference report up for a vote on the House floor and
passed it without debate by a vote of 239-171. The conference report
has already garnered criticism by Democrats-including a veto
threat by the President-over grave concern that the level of
funding in the supplemental is insufficient and contains contentious
policy riders. Only six Democrats voted for the bill, after
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=DuZIIROHqIHaoNbwpqBffw
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=13KkheYm-3JCVAIQfYOqow

House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-NY)
criticized it for being "insufficient given the severity of the
public health emergency facing the Western Hemisphere."

After passing separate funding bills last month, earlier this week
House and Senate appropriators unveiled the conference report, which
provides $1.1 billion to confront the virus-the same amount
approved by the Senate last month, but significantly less than the
Administration's $1.9 billion request. The legislation includes
$175 million for the State Department and USAID, of which, $145.5
million is designated for Global Health Programs and $29.5 million is
marked for State and USAID Operations. Also of note, approximately
$750 million of the $1.1 billion in total funding is offset by using
unspent Ebola balances ($107 million) and cuts to Obamacare programs.
Finally, the legislation includes a number of controversial policy
riders related to birth control and the use of pesticides.

Even with House passage, the path to the President's desk is
elusive. The Senate is scheduled to consider the legislation next
week, but Senate Democrats have vowed to block it unless the
controversial policy riders are removed. And late Thursday, the White
House issued a veto threat, saying the funding level falls far short
of what is needed to combat the disease. Should the conference report
fail to garner a majority in the Senate, negotiators would need to go
back to the drawing board after the recess to find a way forward.

3. More Bipartisan Legislation Moves Forward:
* Foreign Aid Transparency Moves Closer to Passage
* Global Food Security on the Five-Yard Line
* Digital GAP Act Introduced

In a show of continued bipartisan consensus around International
Affairs authorizing legislation, this week the Senate and House took
steps forward on a number of bills:

* Foreign Aid Transparency Moves Closer to Passage. Reps. Ted
Poe's (R-TX) and Gerry Connolly's (D-VA) Foreign Aid
Transparency and Accountability Act (H.R. 3766) appears to be
moving forward in the Senate, and the bill could pass the
chamber as early as next week. The bill, which originally passed
the House in December 2015, will need to be voted on again in
that chamber before heading to the President's desk;
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=ENVwoMSY6v9IIQUUIndftw

* Global Food Security on Five-Yard Line. Momentum behind the
Global Food Security Act (S.1252; H.R. 1567) continues to build
on the Hill, demonstrated by the House bill's strong
passage (270-33) through that chamber on April 12
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=20UleakfkuBtg8EXDbI5jQ
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=KQK8bxgK11xtByd_Hsb-Dw
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=5BViVJpL11owGwqxAzP0aw

th. The Senate bill passed the Senate by voice vote on April
20th, was unanimously approved by the House Foreign Affairs
Committee on May 18th, and awaits consideration on the House
floor;

* Digital GAP Act Introduced. On Tuesday House Foreign Affairs
Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Ranking Member Eliot
Engel (D-NY), along with Reps. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA) and
Grace Meng (D-NY), introduced the Digital GAP Act (H.R. 5537),
which seeks to provide first-time internet access for at least
1.5 billion people in developing countries by 2020. This bill is
one among several other bills that Chairman Royce has been
pushing forward this year.
http://action.usglc.org/site/R?i=BcyVsLA0-2xLk5suJZBzdg


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