This week, the Senate approved the conference report for the FY2006 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies spending bill. In addition, the House approved the conference report for the FY2006 Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs spending bill.
To date, only three of the eleven FY2006 appropriations bills have been enacted into law: Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; Legislative Branch; and Department of Homeland Security.
Senate Action
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
On November 3, the Senate approved, 81-18, the conference report for the FY2006 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies spending bill (H.R. 2744). The House approved the conference report on October 28 (see The Source, 10/28/05). It will now go to the White House to be signed into law by President Bush.
H.R. 2744 allocates $17.09 billion in FY2006, a $260 million increase over FY2005 and $350 million more than the administration’s request.
House Action
Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs
On November 4, the House approved, 358-39, the conference report for the FY2006 Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs spending bill (H.R. 3057).
H.R. 3057 allocates $19.54 billion in FY2006, a $1.36 billion decrease below FY2005 and $3.28 billion less than the administration’s request.
Under the bill, $1.58 billion is provided for the Child Survival and Health Programs Fund, $40 million less than FY2005 and $330 million above the administration’s request. The total includes $360 million for child survival and maternal health, $34 million more than FY2005 and the budget request. In addition, $3 million is provided “for activities to improve the capacity of foreign government agencies and nongovernmental organizations to prevent child abandonment, address the needs of orphans, displaced and abandoned children, and provide permanent homes through family reunification, guardianship, and domestic adoptions.”
The measure provides $2.8 billion in FY2006 for HIV/AIDS prevention activities, $629 million more than FY2005 and $258 million above the budget request. The total includes $1.99 billion for the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative; $350 million in bilateral HIV/AIDS funding within the Child Survival and Health Programs Fund to finance ongoing programs; $450 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; and $30 million for UNAIDS. The conference report states that the conferees “urge the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator to develop and implement a strategy, in coordination with groups responsible for issues of nutrition, such as USAID [the U.S. Agency for International Development], the Department of Agriculture, the World Food Program, and the Food and Agriculture Organization, to address the nutritional requirements of those on antiretroviral therapy.”
H.R. 3057 allocates $1.52 billion for development assistance, a $120 million increase over FY2005 and $380 million more than the budget request. The total includes level funding of $15 million for programs to improve women’s leadership capacity in recipient countries and $11.5 million for USAID’s Office of Women in Development. The bill also provides $365 million for basic education and level funds at $15 million a pilot project “to increase access to basic education by addressing the prohibitive fees that keep children, and particularly girls, out of school.” In addition, the conference report states that development assistance funds should be made available for programs in sub-Saharan Africa to address sexual and gender-based violence, and for activities to reduce the incidence of child marriage in developing countries.
According to the conference report, “USAID shall program not less than $40 million for microbicides, including up to $3 million for the International Partnership for Microbicides, and $29 million for the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.”
Under the bill, $432 million is included for international family planning programs in FY2006. This amount is $9 million less than FY2005 and $7 million more than the administration’s request. In FY2006, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) would receive level funding of $34 million, $9 million above the budget request. The administration has blocked the release of all UNFPA funds in FY2002 through FY2005. This conference report states that the funding could be transferred to the Child Survival and Health Programs Fund and “shall be made available for family planning, maternal, and reproductive health activities.”
The measure continues prior year language stating that none of the funds “may be obligated or expended for any country or organization if the President certifies that the use of these funds by any such country or organization” violates prohibitions against abortion or involuntary sterilization as a method of family planning.
As requested by the administration, H.R. 3057 provides $430 million for Afghanistan, $250 million above the FY2005 level. The total includes $50 million to support programs for Afghan women and girls, of which no less than $7.5 million “shall be made available for grants to support training and equipment to improve the capacity of women-led Afghan nongovernmental organizations and to support the activities of such organizations.”
The bill provides $61 million for assistance to Iraq, $398 million less than the budget request.
The conference report states that no less than $1.5 million “should be made available for programs and activities to combat organized crime, crimes of violence specifically targeting women, and corruption in Guatemala.”
H.R. 3057 includes $791 million for migration and refugee assistance, a $27.2 million increase over FY2005, but $101.8 million below the administration’s request. The conference report states that funds “should be made available to develop effective responses to protracted refugee situations, including the development of programs to assist long-term refugee populations within and outside traditional camp settings that support refugees living or working in local communities such as integration of refugees into local schools and services, resource conservation projects and other projects designed to diminish conflict between refugee hosting communities and refugees.”
The Middle East Partnership Initiative receives $110 million in FY2006, $35 million more than FY2005 and $10 million more than the budget request.
In FY2006, the measure includes $4 million for programs to fight trafficking in persons. The report states that the conferees “intend that this funding be used to protect victims of trafficking, prevent new instances of trafficking, and support the prosecution of traffickers.”
The bill provides $70 million for humanitarian assistance to the Darfur region of Sudan.
H.R. 3057 provides $1.77 billion for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, $270 million more than FY2005, but $1.23 billion below the administration’s request.
The Peace Corps receives $322 million in FY2006, a $5 million increase over FY2005, but $23 million less than the amount requested by President Bush.
In FY2006, the measure provides $127 million for the United Nations Children’s Fund. This amount is $3 million more than FY2005 and $13 million above the administration’s request.
Under the bill, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) receives $3.25 million in FY2006, $1.25 million more than FY2005 and $2.25 million above the budget request. The total includes a $1.5 million contribution to the UNIFEM Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence Against Women.
Finally, the conference report notes that programs funded in the bill “that provide training for foreign police, judicial, and military officials, shall include, where appropriate, programs and activities that address gender-based violence.”
