What Happened to the State Department Budget?

Jul 6, 2009

Two weeks ago, Rep. Nita Lowey (NY), a key member of the House Appropriations Committee, found herself in an unusual position. The committee was considering fiscal year (FY) 2010 spending for the State Department and foreign aid. Fiscally conservative members of the committee were urging reductions in spending on diplomacy and development aid. "This bill is $1.2 billion less than last year's spending, Rep. Lowey noted in defense of reporting the bill out of committee without cuts.

These members urging spending cuts were surprised and confused. President Obama's international affairs budget request -- which funds the State Department and foreign aid -- has been lauded by supporters of a more robust State Department and foreign aid budget, including FCNL. After President Obama released his budget earlier this year, many analysts wrote incorrectly that the State Department would receive a double digit funding increase.

Playing With Numbers

While President Obama's budget request for diplomacy and development for FY10 was an increase from last year's spending, the increase was actually much smaller than some reports made it appear. Why? Because the 2009 supplemental spending bills for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also included a significant amount of funds for the State Department and foreign aid. In fact, of the roughly $50 billion allocated to the State Department last year, approximately $14 billion of these funds came from supplemental spending bills.

However, even including supplemental funds, President Obama's budget for FY10 would still have provided a decent increase in spending for diplomacy, development and international cooperation. Yet, hopes for an increased budget for civilian foreign policy engagement were dashed when the House and Senate Appropriations Committees doled out their "302(b) allocations," or the funding levels provided to each appropriations subcommittee, in early June. Both chambers allocated roughly $3 billion less than the President requested for the State Department and foreign operations subcommittee, and allocated a spending increase for the military.

As a result, the FY10 budget for diplomacy, development and international cooperation is currently slated to be about $1.2 billion less than last year's total. The full House is preparing to consider this spending bill, which would provide just under $49 billion for the State Department, on Thursday and Friday.

As you will see from FCNL's chart(pdf), the House appropriations committee recommended less than requested by the President and FCNL on key accounts to help prevent and respond to deadly conflict. However, while less than requested by the President, every one of these accounts was increased from last year's spending, a small but important victory. We hope the Senate Appropriations Committee will recommend higher spending levels than the House for the accounts FCNL supports when it marks up their bill this month.