On December 18, 2015, Congress passed an omnibus appropriations law for FY2016 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016; P.L. 2029 ), and the President signed it the same day. Division K of the law provides $52.83 billion for the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPS) for FY2016. This amount is 1.7% greater than the FY2015 estimate and 0.2% below the President's FY2016 request. Of the total, $14.90 billion is designated as Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funds, as directed by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (see below). On November 2, 2015, the President signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 ( H.R. 1314 ; P.L. It increased both security (from $523.1 billion to $548.1 billion) and nonsecurity funding levels (from $493.5 billion to $518.5 billion) and raised OCO funding by $32 billion, divided equally over the two years and between defense and nondefense. For nondefense (SFOPS) OCO, the minimum is $14.9 billion in FY2016 and FY2017. On October 6, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate SFOPS subcommittee introduced a supplemental appropriations bill ( S. 2145 ) to provide an additional $1 billion in FY2016 emergency funding, through the Migration and Refugee Assistance account, to address the refugee crisis caused by conflict in the Middle East. Minibus Legislation. On October 5, 2015, four "minibus" appropriations bills were introduced in the Senate, including S. 2130 , which bundled the Senate FY2016 SFOPS bill ( S. 1725 ) with the Senate FY2016 bills making appropriations for the Department of Defense, Energy and Water Development, Department of Homeland Security, Military Construction, and Department of Veterans Affairs. On September 30, 2015, the House and Senate approved, and President Obama signed into law, a resolution to provide temporary FY2016 continuing appropriations through December 11, 2015 ( P.L. 114-53 ). On June 11, 2015, the House Appropriations Committee approved an FY2016 SFOPS bill ( H.R. Totaling $48.19 billion, before rescissions, H.R. On April 30, 2015, the House agreed to a conference report that set the FY2016 budget authority for International Affairs enduring funds at $40.20 billion; the Senate agreed to the same on May 5, 2015. Hearings. In February and March, Secretary of State John Kerry and Acting USAID Administrator Alfonso Lenhardt testified before the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, as well as the House Foreign Affairs and the Senate Foreign Relations Committees on the FY2016 SFOPS request. Overview

On February 2, 2015, the Obama Administration submitted to Congress its FY2016 budget request, which included $54.08 billion for the State Department, Foreign Operations, and Related Appropriations (SFOPS). Of the total SFOPS request, $17.54 billion was for programs funded through the State operations and related agencies accounts (a 10.9% increase over FY2015 estimates that include emergency Ebola funds), and $36.53 billion was for Foreign Operations accounts (a 1.2% increase from FY2015 estimates that include emergency Ebola funds). For FY2016, $7.05 billion, or about 13% of the SFOPS request, was designated as OCO. State Department Operations

For FY2016, the Administration sought to grow funding for the State Department and Related Accounts category by 10.6% over FY2015-estimated levels, to $17.55 billion. The proposal was not funded by appropriators in FY2015. This is about 3% more than requested for FY2016 and 4% above FY2015 foreign operations estimates. The House committee bill, H.R. 114-113 / H.R. P.L. Excluding the Ebola funds, the request was a 3% decrease from the FY2015 estimate. 114-113 . The Senate committee report, S.Rept. The committee report ( H.Rept. 2772 and the committee report ( H.Rept.
On February 2, 2015, the Obama Administration submitted to Congress its budget request for FY2016. The request for State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPS) totals $54.08 billion, or a 4% increase from FY2015-estimated levels. Within that amount
$47.04 billion is requested for enduring or core funding and $7.05 billion is designated as Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding, excluding add-ons and rescissions; $17.55 billion of the total request is for State Department Operations and related agencies (10.6% increase over FY2015 estimates); $36.53 billion is for Foreign Operations (1.2% above the FY2015 estimates); excluding the FY2015 Ebola supplemental funding, the State Department Operations FY2016 request is a 10.9% increase over FY2015 estimates, and the Foreign Operations FY2016 request is a 7% increase over FY2015 funding estimates.
House and Senate committees held several hearings on various aspects of the international affairs budget in February and March. Both chambers passed FY2016 budget resolutions in late March. The House (on April 30, 2015) and the Senate (on May 5, 2015) reconciled budget resolution funding levels in conference (H.Rept. 114-96); however, OCO suballocations were not established.
The House Appropriations Committee reported its FY2016 SFOPS bill out of committee on June 11, 2015. The House committee bill (H.R. 2772; H.Rept. 114-154) recommended $48.19 billion in total funding, excluding rescissions, but including $7.33 billion designated as OCO.
The Senate Appropriations Committee reported its FY2016 bill out of committee on July 9, 2015. The Senate committee bill (S. 1725; S.Rept. 114-79) recommended $49.77 billion in total funding, excluding rescissions, but including $9.48 billion designated as OCO and $759 million in emergency funds.
On September 30, 2015, the House and Senate approved, and President Obama signed into law, a resolution (P.L. 114-53) to provide temporary FY2016 continuing appropriations through December 11, 2015.
On October 5, 2015, the Senate SFOPS bill was incorporated in a national security-related "minibus" bill (S. 2130), one of four minibus bills into which Senate FY2016 appropriations bills were bundled.
On October 6, Senate SFOPS leaders introduced supplemental appropriations legislation (S. 2145) to increase FY2016 migration and refugee assistance funding by $1 billion to address the Middle East refugee crisis.
On November 2, 2015, the President signed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (H.R. 1314; P.L. 114-74), which raises the discretionary spending limit by $50 billion for FY2016 and $30 billion for FY2017 (thus increasing spending caps for defense and nondefense for those years), and increases OCO funding by $16 billion for each year, equally divided between DOD and SFOPS.
On December 18, 2015, Congress passed an omnibus appropriations law for FY2016 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016; P.L. 114-113/H.R. 2029), and the President signed it the same day. Division K of the law provides $52.83 billion for the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPS) for FY2016. This amount is 1.7% greater than the FY2015 estimate and 0.2% below the President's FY2016 request.
This report provides an overview of the FY2016 SFOPS request, a discussion of key issues and historic context, and account-by-account funding comparisons with FY2014 actuals, available FY2015 estimates, FY2016 proposals and P.L. 114-113. This is the final update of this report, unless supplemental appropriations legislation is considered by Congress during FY2016.