On June 9th, the House Appropriations Committee approved the binding FY 2010 302(b) allocations for the 12 Appropriations Subcommittees. The Committee allocated approximately $51 billion for the International Affairs Budget, which is consistent with the final recommendation for these programs approved in the FY10 Concurrent Budget Resolution.  The allocation represents a 6 percent decrease from the Administration’s request of $53.9 billion and represents nearly one-third of the entire cuts made to the Administration’s overall discretionary funding request.

The FY09 Supplemental Appropriations bill, while still in conference deliberations, is poised to add nearly $10 billion for International Affairs programs. Congressional Conferees appear to have come to an agreement to add nearly $3 billion more than the Administration’s original request for these programs, primarily to ease some of the pressure on overall discretionary funding in the FY10 Budget as Congress seeks to spend $10 billion less than requested by the Administration. Conferees are expected to continue to meet to work out differences between the House and Senate bills. The two biggest hurdles that remain are inclusion of the Administration’s request for an additional $5 billion to account for the “default risk” associated with an additional $108 billion U.S. contribution to the International Monetary Fund and securing enough votes within the Democratic caucus to pass the bill.