Most Recent Developments

For the most controversial FY2001 Foreign Operations issue - internationalfamily planning - Congress increased spending to $425 million. Lawmakers,however, restricted the obligation of funds until after February 15, 2001. The enacted legislation falls about $550million, or 3.5%, below the President's combined FY2000 supplemental/FY2001requests, but is substantially higher than the roughly $13.4 billion spendingmeasures passed by the House and Senate during the summer. Introduction

The annual Foreign Operations appropriations bill is the primary legislativevehicle through which Congress reviews and votes on the U.S. foreign assistancebudget and influences executive branch foreign policy making generally. (1) It containsthe largest share -- about two-thirds -- of total international affairs spending by theUnited States (see Figure 1 ). Those problems were settled and the Senate approved S. 2522 on June 22. 4811 on October 24 ( H.Rept. 106-997 ). 4811 on November 6, 2000 ( P.L.106-429 ). Foreign Operations Appropriations Request for FY2001 and Congressional Consideration

In February 2000 President Clinton asked Congress to appropriate $15.1 billionfor FY2001 Foreign Operations. Summary of Foreign Operations Appropriations (Discretionary funds - in millions of dollars)
Note: For comparative purposes and to conform to the account structure of the FY2000 and FY2001 enacted Foreign Operations, some funding in the FY2001request and Senate bill have been shifted: UNICEF, GAVI, Inter-AmericanFoundation, and African Development Foundation amounts requested for FY2001are included in development aid under title II. (6)
FY2000 Supplemental. As approved by the Senate, S. 2522 provided $13.4 billion for Foreign Operations programsin FY2001. (7) The Senaterecommendation fell about$1.7 billion, or 11%, below the President's (at that time) $15.1 billion FY2001request. As approved by the House on July 13, H.R. 4811 provided $13.3 billion, about $200 millionless than the FY2000 Act (after subtracting from FY2000 the one-time, $1.8 billionWye River/Middle East peace aid package and the enacted supplemental), and $1.8billion, or 12%, below the President's (at the time) $15.1 billion FY2001 request. During floor debate, the House adopted anamendment (Waters, 216-211) that raised this amount to $238 million, $24 millionbelow the FY2001 request, but still far less than the combined request. As enacted, Congress approved $14.9 billion for Foreign Operations spending in FY2001. FY2001 Request. The centerpiece of theSenate proposal was the creation of a new $691 million account for Global Health. Family Planning and Abortion Restrictions. The Administration asked Congress to approve items carried over from 1999:
HIPC Trust Fund $210 million contribution as an FY2000 supplemental appropriation;
HIPC bilateral and multilateral debt relief request of $225million for FY2001;
Tropical forestry debt relief initiative of $37million;
HIPC bilateral and multilateral debt relief advanceappropriation (FY2002/2003) of $375 million;
Authorization for the U.S. to participate in the HIPC TrustFund; and
Authorization permitting the U.S. to support the full use of theIMF for gold transaction profits for debt relief. S. 2522 provided $75 million in debt reduction for FY2001, far below the combined FY2000/2001 requests for $472 million. International Family Planning: The "Mexico City" Policy , by [author name scrubbed]. 106-246 ( H.R. h. FY2000 supplemental enacted in P.L.
The annual Foreign Operations appropriations bill is the primary legislative vehicle through which Congress reviews the U.S. foreign aid budget and influences executive branch foreign policymaking generally. It contains the largest share -- over two-thirds -- of total U.S. internationalaffairs spending.
President Clinton asked Congress initially to appropriate $15.1 billion for FY2001 Foreign Operations, plus $1.25 billion in FY2000 supplemental funds. Congress approved some of thesupplemental spending in P.L. 106-246 , but in October 2000 reconsidered and approved as FY2001emergency appropriations portions of the FY2000 supplemental rejected earlier. Consequently, thecombined FY2000 supplemental/FY2001 regular Foreign Operations request, as it stood whenCongress debated the FY2001 Foreign Operations conference report in October, totaled $15.45billion. The largest program increases for FY2001 were those for the Export-Import Bank (+26%),USAID development aid (+18%), nonproliferation, terrorism, and demining (+44%), voluntarycontributions to international organizations (+45%), and multilateral development bank contributions(+24%).
S. 2522 , as approved by the Senate on June 22, provided $13.4 billion for FY2001 Foreign Operations Appropriations. The measure was about $65 million less than FY2000 enactedand about $1.7 billion, or 11%, below the President's initial FY2001 request. A major new initiativein S. 2522 was the creation of a Global Health account ($691 million). Population aidwould have increased by $110 million and a new set of conditions on family planning programswould have effectively eliminated the FY2000 abortion-related restrictions.
H.R. 4811 , as approved by the House on July 13, provided $13.3 billion, about $200 million less than the FY2000 enacted, and 13% less than the President's original request. Thebill maintained the FY2000 funding level and abortion-related restrictions for family planningprograms. At $238 million, the bill provided most of the Administration's FY2001 request for debtrelief, but still fell well short of the combined FY2000/2001 debt reduction request of $472 million.
On October 25, Congress approved the conference report on H.R. 4811 ( H.Rept. 106-997 ), increasing FY2001 Foreign Operations spending to $14.9 billion, well above levels passedearlier by either the House or Senate. The enacted legislation ( P.L. 106-429 ) falls about $550million, or 3.5% below the President's combined FY2000 supplemental/FY2001 requests, but fullyfunds several top Administration priorities, including international debt relief and global healthprograms. For international family planning, Congress increased spending to $425 million, butrestricted the obligation of funds until after February 15, 2001. Prior to the release of these funds,President Bush reimposed the so-called "Mexico City" abortion restrictions that apply to FY2001and future U.S. family planning appropriations