H.R. Congress completed action on the bill the week of December 17, 2007, and the President signed it on December 26 ( P.L. 110-161 ). The State Department operations and foreign aid programs comprise and total $35 billion, including $2.4 billion in emergency supplemental funds. The international affairs budget can be divided into two components—State Department/Diplomacy/Broadcasting and Foreign Operations. FY2008 Budget Request: State Department and Related Agencies3

The Administration's FY2008 budget request for the Department of State is $10.014 billion, representing a 10.5% increase over the FY2007 estimate, but a decline of 4.3% as compared with the FY2006 actual appropriation (the most recent enacted appropriation for the Department of State), including rescissions and supplementals. Specific aspects of Secretary Rice's Transformational Diplomacy include:
Global repositioning. Highlights follow. The act ( P.L. This level of increase is the largest within the budget request government-wide, and continues the general trend of increases since September 11, 2001. Strategic objectives have been created and linked to country categories. The FY2008 budget continues a focus on the war on terrorism and reconstruction in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as assistance to front-line states. Congress approved a FY2007 supplemental bill ( H.R. On October 22, 2007, a second emergency supplemental request was sent to Congress. Iraq and Afghanistan Share of Total Aid Budget

Including both base budgets and supplemental appropriations, the share of U.S. bilateral foreign assistance going to Iraq and Afghanistan has increased sharply since FY2002. 2764 , the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations bill, became the vehicle for a $555 billion omnibus spending bill that included funding for domestic agencies and for some of the FY2008 emergency supplemental funding requested by the White House. House Appropriations Action

On June 5, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Agencies marked up the FY2008 spending measure. The bill provides a total of $34.243 billion. In other full committee action, a number of amendments were approved
to increase military assistance to Pakistan by $50 million; to require a report, rather than a certification, from the Secretary of State on human rights in Indonesia; to encourage the President to use $50 million for democracy promotion in Iran; to encourage the President to use $10 million in previous years' funds to protect Iraqi Christians; to direct the Secretary of State to review the need for enhanced facilities of the Haitian Parliament and to consider granting an exception to current Department policy, allowing a portion of the $23.9 million requested for democracy assistance to be used by Haiti to purchase the U.S. Embassy property adjacent to the Haitian Parliament; to clarify the dates on which the State Department must report to Congress with regard to restrictions on family planning funds; to require a report from the State Department on the evidence and criteria used if the Department should determine that an organization or program supports and participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization; to recommend that Development Assistance funding for countries in the Western Hemisphere be increased by $56 million to restore country program levels to at least FY2006 levels. Senate Appropriations Action

On June 28, 2007, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported out its version of the FY2008 State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs bill. The Senate appointed conferees also on September 6. The House bill maintains separate accounts. The overall funding level remains the same as the committee-reported bill and the House-passed measure.
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. Funding for Foreign Operations and State Department/Broadcasting programs has been steadily rising since FY2002, and amounts approved for FY2004 in regular and supplemental bills reached an unprecedented level compared with the past 40 years. Emergency supplementals enacted since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to assist the front-line states in the war on terrorism, fund Afghanistan and Iraq reconstruction, and upgrade State Department operations and security upgrades, also have pushed spending upward.
This report analyzes the FY2008 budget request and funding trends, including major issues Congress may consider, and tracks congressional action. Major issues confronting the 110th Congress include:
The overall size of the budget request that represents an 11% increase over FY2007 enacted levels; A foreign aid reform plan that seeks to align assistance with U.S. strategic objectives; Significant increases for Presidential initiatives; Continued costs relating to Iraq and Afghanistan; and Secretary Rice's Transformational Diplomacy initiative for the State Department.
Congress completed action on all appropriations bills in the FY2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2764) during the week of December 17, 2007. The President signed the Act on December 26 (P.L. 110-161). The act also included $2.4 billion in emergency supplemental funds for international affairs. The Senate-passed State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs appropriations bill was the vehicle used for the consolidated bill. On February 6, 2007, the Administration sent to Congress its FY2008 budget that included significant increases for the international affairs budget. On June 5, 2007, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Agencies marked up the FY2008 measure providing a total of $34.243 billion; full committee consideration followed on June 12. The House passed the bill, H.R. 2764, on June 22. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the bill on June 28, and the Senate passed it on September 6, approving the same level of total funding as the House bill. The President sent an FY2008 supplemental request to Congress on October 22 seeking, among other funds, an additional $3.6 billion for international affairs.
This report will be updated to further reflect congressional action.