On August 1, the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved, by voice vote, the Department of State Operations and Embassy Security Authorization Act (H.R. 2848), as amended.
The bill, sponsored by Chair Ed Royce (R-CA), would reauthorize for FY2014 several programs at the State Department, including some that affect women and their families. On July 24 and 25, the House and Senate Appropriations approved spending levels for these programs in their respective FY2014 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs spending bills (H.R. 2855 and S. 1372) (see The Source, 7/26/13).
Specifically, the measure would authorize for FY2014 $1.4 billion for contributions to international organizations, such as the United Nations, which provides funding for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UN Women (formerly UNIFEM), and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Contributions for International Peacekeeping would be authorized at $1.942 billion in FY2014, while funding for Diplomatic and Consular Affairs, which houses the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, would be authorized at $8.482 billion.
During the consideration of the bill, the committee approved, by voice vote, a manager’s amendment that contained several en bloc amendments, including an amendment by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) to grant the secretary of State the authority to limit the period of validity of a passport issued to a sex offender and to revoke the passport of a person convicted in a foreign country of a sex offense. United States citizens convicted of sex offenses in foreign countries would be not prohibited from returning to the U.S. and would be eligible to reapply for a passport at any time after returning to the U.S.
