Congress cleared a Consolidated Appropriations spending bill on Sunday that completes the FY 2010 International Affairs Budget, providing a total of $50.9 billion. There are two ways to compare FY 2009 to the FY 2010 funding levels, creating some confusion. The FY10 figures represent a 4.1% cut from total funding for FY09.  However, Congress added approximately $1.9 billion in “forward funding” to the FY09 Emergency Supplemental appropriations in June that was actually requested for FY10.  Adjusting the final FY10 totals for this “forward funding” and deducting it from the FY09 base means the FY10 International Affairs Budget is a 3.3% increase from last year.

The Consolidated Appropriations bill includes $49 billion of the FY10 International Affairs Budget, roughly mid-way between the House-passed and Senate Appropriations Committee bills in July 2009. The largest component – $48.6 billion or 95 percent of the International Affairs Budget – is the FY10 State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations bill. The other component – $1.9 billion for international food assistance – was approved by Congress in October in the Agriculture Appropriations bill. The total $50.9 billion FY10 International Affairs Budget is:

• $3 billion or 5.5 percent less than the Administration’s request;
• $2.2 billion or 4.1 percent less than FY09 (but a 3.3% increase when adjusted for FY10 forward funding, as noted above); and
• $7.7 billion or 17.8 percent higher than FY08.

Passage of the Consolidated Appropriation bill comes as the Administration finalizes its FY 2011 Budget request, which will be submitted to Congress on February 1, 2010, in what is widely expected to be a very difficult and constrained resource environment.

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