Appropriations for FY2001: Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs

Publication Date: April 2001

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Banking and finance

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Abstract:

The annual Foreign Operations appropriations bill is the primary legislative vehicle through which Congress reviews the U.S. foreign aid budget and influences executive branch foreign policy making generally. It contains the largest share — over two-thirds — of total U.S. international affairs spending.

President Clinton asked Congress initially to appropriate $15.1 billion for FY2001 Foreign Operations, plus $1.25 billion in FY2000 supplemental funds. Congress approved some of the supplemental spending in P.L. 106-246, but in October 2000 reconsidered and approved as FY2001 emergency appropriations portions of the FY2000 supplemental rejected earlier. Consequently, the combined FY2000 supplemental/FY2001 regular Foreign Operations request, as it stood when Congress debated the FY2001 Foreign Operations conference report in October, totaled $15.45 billion. The largest program increases for FY2001 were those for the Export-Import Bank (+26%), USAID development aid (+18%), nonproliferation, terrorism, and demining (+44%), voluntary contributions to international organizations (+45%), and multilateral development bank contributions (+24%).

S. 2522, as approved by the Senate on June 22, provided $13.4 billion for FY2001 Foreign Operations Appropriations. The measure was about $65 million less than FY2000 enacted and about $1.7 billion, or 11%, below the President’s initial FY2001 request. A major new initiative in S. 2522 was the creation of a Global Health account ($691 million). Population aid would have increased by $110 million and a new set of conditions on family planning programs would have effectively eliminated the FY2000 abortion-related restrictions.

H.R. 4811, as approved by the House on July 13, provided $13.3 billion, about $200 million less than the FY2000 enacted, and 13% less than the President’s original request. The bill maintained the FY2000 funding level and abortion-related restrictions for family planning programs. At $238 million, the bill provided most of the Administration’s FY2001 request for debt relief, but still fell well short of the combined FY2000/2001 debt reduction request of $472 million.

On October 25, Congress approved the conference report on H.R. 4811 (H.Rept. 106-997), increasing FY2001 Foreign Operations spending to $14.9 billion, well above levels passed earlier by either the House or Senate. The enacted legislation (P.L. 106-429) falls about $550 million, or 3.5% below the President’s combined FY2000 supplemental/FY2001 requests, but fully funds several top Administration priorities, including international debt relief and global health programs. For international family planning, Congress increased spending to $425 million, but restricted the obligation of funds until after February 15, 2001. Prior to the release of these funds, President Bush reimposed the so-called “Mexico City” abortion restrictions that apply to FY2001 and future U.S. family planning appropriations