On June 23rd, the House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved by voice vote the $48.8 billion FY10 State, Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. The funding level approved by the Committee is $1.2 billion or 2.4 percent below FY09 enacted spending, and $3.2 billion or 6 percent below the Administration’s request of $52 billion. Following opening remarks, the Committee considered five amendments. Hightlights include:

• A Manager’s Amendment sponsored by Chairwoman Lowey that was adopted by voice vote and contained several funding adjustments and policy provisions, including:
  o   $50 million more for bilateral tuberculosis programs
  o   $50 million more for the Global HIV/AIDS Fund
  o   A prohibition against the U.S. Export-Import Bank from providing or guaranteeing credit to companies that provide Iran with “significant” amounts of refined petroleum authored by Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL-10).
• A cutting amendment sponsored by Rep. John Culberson (R-TX-07) that was defeated 22 to 35. The proposed amendment would have reduced the bill by 1% through a $506 million cut to multilateral assistance, effectively bringing it to the FY09 spending level.

Following the July 4th recess, the full House is expected to consider its version of the FY10 State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations bill and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs is expected to mark-up its version of the bill.