111-117 ) on December 16, 2009. Congressional Action

		Conference Report

Congress provided a total of $48.9 billion for State Department, Foreign Operations, and Related Agencies for FY2010, $3.3 billion (6%) below the President's request of $52.2 billion. On July 9, the committee approved S. 1434 , the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Agency Appropriations Act, 2010. State-Foreign Operations Overview

The State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill funds most programs and activities within the international affairs budget, also known as Function 150, including foreign economic and military assistance, food assistance, contributions to international organizations and multilateral financial institutions, State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) operations, public diplomacy, and international broadcasting programs. The Obama Administration's first international affairs budget proposal continues to use this framework. The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is an aid delivery concept, proposed by President Bush in 2002, authorized by Congress (Title VI, Division D of P.L. Further details of the international affairs account are provided in Appendix E .

		Use of Supplemental Funding

Supplemental resources for State and Foreign Operations programs, which in FY2004 exceeded regular State and Foreign Operations funding, became a significant source of funds for U.S. international activities during the Bush Administration, especially for programs related to reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan and strategic assistance to the Near East and South Central Asia. The Obama Administration has pledged to discontinue the practice of requesting supplemental appropriations to fund ongoing activities, starting with the FY2010 request, and claims that all anticipated funding for FY2010 has been included in the request. FY2010 Budget Request: State Department and Related Agencies

The Administration's FY2010 budget request for the Department of State, international broadcasting, and related agencies is $17.36 billion, representing a 6% increase over the FY2009 estimate of $16.36 billion, including supplementals and the mandatory Foreign Service Retirement Fund. These have included the withholding of funds related to international family planning policies; issues related to implementation of the Iraq Oil for Food Program, and the findings and recommendations of the Volcker Committee Inquiry into that program; alleged and actual findings of sexual exploitation and abuse by personnel in U.N. peacekeeping operations in the field and other misconduct by U.N. officials at U.N. headquarters in New York and at other U.N. headquarters venues; and efforts to develop, agree to, and bring about meaningful and comprehensive reform of the United Nations organization, in most of its aspects. The annual State-Foreign Operations Appropriations bill funds all U.S. bilateral development assistance programs, with the exception of food assistance appropriated through the Agriculture Appropriations bill (for which $2.42 billion was appropriated in FY2009 and $1.89 billion is requested for FY2010). However, the supplemental bill ( H.R. H.R. Development Assistance , from which additional funding would support the Administration's agricultural development and food security priorities, would increase by 37% over the FY2009 funding level under the Administration request, by 25% under the House-passed bill, and by 28% in the Senate-reported bill.
The annual State, Foreign Operations and Related Agencies appropriations bill is the primary legislative vehicle through which Congress reviews the U.S. international affairs budget and influences executive branch foreign policy making in general, as these activities have not been considered regularly by Congress through the authorization process since 2003. Funding for Foreign Operations and State Department/Broadcasting programs has been steadily rising since FY2002, after a period of decline in the 1980s and 1990s. Amounts approved for FY2004 in regular and supplemental bills reached an unprecedented level compared with the previous 40 years, largely due to Iraq reconstruction funding. Ongoing assistance to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as large new global health programs, has kept the international affairs budget at historically high levels in recent years. The Obama Administration's FY2010 budget proposal indicated that this trend would continue.
On May 7, 2009, President Obama submitted a budget proposal for FY2010 that requests $53.9 billion for the international affairs budget, a 2% increase over the enacted FY2009 funding level, including supplementals. Within that amount, $52.2 billion is for programs and activities funded through the State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill. The Administration requested significant increases to support additional foreign service officers at USAID and the Department of State, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, food security and agricultural development, counter-terrorism and law enforcement activities, and meeting U.S. commitments to international organizations. Among programs and regions for which the Administration recommended reduced funding, compared with estimated FY2009 levels, are economic assistance to Iraq; aid to Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia; international peacekeeping; and foreign military financing. These comparisons, however, are in relation to unusually high FY2009 total funding levels in some accounts, and do not necessarily reflect shifts in policy or priorities.
Key policy issues addressed in the Administration's request include enhancing the capacity of civilian diplomatic and development agencies, promoting U.S. leadership in multilateral development banks, and improving fiscal transparency by funding ongoing programs through the regular appropriations process rather than through supplemental appropriations. The proposal also seeks funding for at least two activities that have been rejected by Congress in the past—multilateral clean investment funds managed by the World Bank and the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA).
This report analyzes the FY2010 request, recent-year funding trends, and congressional action for FY2010, which includes the July 9 House approval of H.R. 3081, the State-Foreign Operations Appropriations bill for FY2010, July 9 Senate Appropriations Committee passage of its bill (S. 1434), and passage of H.R. 3288, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, signed into law Dec. 16, 2009 (P.L. 111-117).