On June 22, the Senate completed action on the FY2001 foreign operations appropriations bill (S. 2522), but will wait for a vote on final passage until the House passes its measure.
The Senate dispensed with a plethora of amendments by adopting them by unanimous consent. One such amendment, offered by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), would attach a sense of the Senate resolution instructing the U.S. Agency for International Development to “place a high priority on efforts, including providing medications, to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS.”
Another amendment, offered by Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN), would provide $250,000 to assist Kosovo law enforcement officials to better identify and respond to cases of trafficking in persons. The amendment also would appropriate $1.5 million for the health and other assistance needs of Kosovo trafficking survivors.
Another amendment, offered by Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), would require the Secretary of State to conduct a study on the prevalence of female genital mutilation (FGM). The study would examine the existence and enforcement of laws prohibiting FGM, as well as how the United States could best work to eliminate the practice.
Another amendment, offered by Sen. Boxer, would increase funding for overseas HIV/AIDS programs from $225 million to $255 million. The Boxer amendment would designate the funding increase as emergency spending. As approved by the committee, S. 2522 would establish a new Global Health Initiative, which would receive $651 million. Of that amount, $50 million would be used for maternal health programs, $225 million for HIV/AIDS education, prevention, and control, $15 million for microbicide research, $41 million for tuberculosis prevention and treatment, $65 million for malaria prevention and control, and $50 million for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations.
The Senate also defeated an amendment by Sen. Wellstone that would have provided $225 million for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The money would have come out of the Colombia aid package; however, the amendment was tabled 89-11.
Overall, development assistance would receive $1.4 billion, an increase from the $1.1 billion appropriated in FY2000. Under the Senate bill, international family planning programs would receive not less than $425 million, an increase of $52 million over the amount the programs received last year. The bill also would provide $25 million for the U.S. voluntary contribution to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). UNFPA would be required to keep U.S. funds in a separate account and no money could be spent in China. The bill does not include an additional restriction in current law that reduced the U.S. contribution to UNFPA dollar-for-dollar by the amount spent in China.
The bill also would level-fund the Agency for International Development’s (AID) Office of Women in Development at $15 million.
House Action
After delaying the mark-up by one week, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations approved, by voice vote, its FY2001 spending bill (as-yet-unnumbered) on June 20. The draft bill would level-fund international family planning programs at $385 million. The bill also would maintain current law with regard to an abortion-related restriction on international family planning programs.
Under current law, organizations that use their own money to perform abortions abroad or to lobby foreign governments on abortion policy are denied U.S. aid. The President is allowed to waive the restriction, but if he exercises the waiver, the total funds available for international family planning are reduced by three percent. Additionally, the total funding available to groups using their own funds to perform abortions abroad or to lobby on abortion policy is capped at $15 million.
During subcommittee action, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) offered an amendment to repeal the restriction, but it was defeated, 7-8. The Senate-passed bill does not include the current year restrictions on international family planning.
The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark up the bill the week of June 26.
