State, Foreign Operations Spending Bills Move through Congress

Senate

On June 19, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved, 25-5, the FY2015 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Services appropriations bill (S. 2499). The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Services approved the legislation, by voice vote, on June 17.

According to the committee report, this legislation would provide $47.183 billion in discretionary funds for the Department of State, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and other international organizations. This amount is $1.977 billion below FY2014 and $284.964 million below President Obama’s FY2015 request.

The chart below details funding levels for the programs within the bill that are important to women and their families.

The bill would provide the president’s request of $1.84 billion for gender programs. The committee directs the Department of State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues and USAID’s Office of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment to help implement these efforts, which include reduction of the incidence of child marriage, increased political participation, and improved responses to gender-based violence (p.51).

The committee expresses a dedication to ensuring health for women and children. Regarding child survival and maternal health, the committee recognizes the importance of vaccines for preventing maternal and neonatal tetanus and urges USAID to support efforts to eliminate this disease (p.40). The committee also directs USAID to support efforts against uterine prolapse in Nepal (p.41).

The bill would provide $3 million to increase the number of scholarships in Pakistan, at least half of which should be awarded to women (p.62). The committee also supports programs that offer educational opportunities at US community colleges for women, among other underserved populations (p.46).

The committee supports the prioritization of the “recruitment, retention, and professionalization of women in Pakistan’s police forces” (p.73).

The bill would provide “authority for the establishment of an endowment to empower women and girls” in Afghanistan, where the government will continue to prioritize gender-related programs that promote “women’s inclusion in political and security processes [and] efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence” (p.61).

The committee “directs that assistance be made available…[to improve] the security, economic and social well-being, and political status of Haitian women and girls” (p.65).

The committee supports programs that address the needs of women refugees in Syria and directs the Department of State to ensure that women are involved in negotiations for ending the Syrian conflict (p.15).

The committee also “recommends funding for cookstoves that sustainably reduce fuel consumption and exposure to harmful smoke,” which has caused “nearly 2 million premature deaths, primarily of women and children” (p.51).

The committee expressed concern with the global incidence of sexual assault and gender-based violence. The committee supports programs in the Democratic Republic of Congo to avert sexual and gender-based violence and assist victims of sexual violence (p.56) and recommends up to $3 million for the sexual assault units of the Guatemalan police (p.73). The committee also directs USAID to assist in formulating a plan to build safe public latrines for women and girls in Africa and Asia, in order to prevent “the sexual and other assaults against women and girls [that] often occur outside at night when they are vulnerable due to the lack of safe and accessible latrines” (p.53). Additionally, the committee “condemns the abduction by Boko Haram of hundreds of Nigerian school girls” and “provides funds for programs for women and girls who are targeted by Boko Haram” (p.57).

House

On June 17, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs approved, by voice vote, its version of the FY2015 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs spending bill (as-yet-unnumbered).

According to the committee summary, the legislation would provide $48.3 billion in discretionary funds for the Department of State, USAID, and other international organizations. This amount is $709 million under FY2014 and $277 million under President Obama’s FY2015 request.

The measure would provide $15.6 billion for the State Department. This amount is $12.8 million below FY2014 and $926 million below the president’s request. The legislation would provide $1.3 billion for humanitarian and development programs at USAID, $19 million over FY2014 and $237 million under the president’s request.

Bilateral Economic Assistance would receive $21.8 billion in FY2015, $270 million below FY2014, but $1.1 billion over the administration’s request. The bill would provide $2.4 billion for multilateral economic assistance, $518 million below FY2014 and $746 million below the president’s request.

The measure also would reject the president’s proposed reductions to programs that combat HIV/AIDS.

The bill includes several provisions that would limit funding for abortions. Specifically, the measure would:

• Reinstate the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits US assistance to foreign nongovernmental organizations that promote or perform abortions;
• Prohibit funding for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and cap family planning and reproductive health programs at $461 million, equal to the FY2008 funding level;
• Continue the prohibition on the use of foreign aid for abortions (Helms Amendment) and federal funding for international organizations that support coercive or involuntary abortions (Kemp-Kasten Amendment); and
• Ensure that family planning programs are voluntary (Tiahrt Amendment).

Additional information will become available once the committee releases its report.