Over the weekend the Senate passed 67-32 the FY12 omnibus spending bill, finalizing Congress’ work on FY12 appropriations.  The President is expected to sign the bill into law this week.  The omnibus includes the State-Foreign Operations bill, providing $42 billion in base funding and $11 billion for overseas contingency operations, which results in roughly current levels for non-war related programs. Yesterday, USGLC Executive Committee Chair Ritu Sharma appeared on CSPAN’s Washington Journal to discuss the impact of potential budget cuts on women worldwide. Today at 2:30, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will deliver remarks at Georgetown University on women’s participation in peace and security.

Must Reads

USGLC In the News

US foreign aid escapes slashing cuts in fiscal 2012 (Susan Cornwell, Reuters)

The U.S. State Department and foreign aid budget escaped devastating cuts in a fiscal 2012 spending plan that Congress is poised to approve. The 2012 spending plan is a mixed bag, said Liz Schrayer, the executive director of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, which advocates for diplomacy and development aid.

NH hosts national security forum (Associated Press)

Retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni is leading a forum in New Hampshire on national security and foreign policy. Zinni, a four-star general who served as commander in chief of U.S. Central Command, is giving the keynote speech Friday at a forum hosted by former Sen. John E. Sununu at Saint Anselm College.

Former U.S. General: ‘Morale of Our Military is High’ (Marc Fortier, New Hampshire Patch)

Retired Four-Star General Anthony Zinni, former Commander in Chief of U.S. Central Command, was the guest speaker at the event, which also featured a panel discussion by surrogates for six of the GOP presidential candidates. The event was held at Saint Anselm College’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics and co-hosted by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition.

Who’s In the News

Kim Jong Il, North Korean leader, is dead at age 69 (Chico Harlan, Washington Post)

Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader who threatened the world with his nuclear weapons ambitions and suppressed his own people with imprisonment and isolation, left in the wake of his death Saturday an antiquated country with a power vacuum.

Vaclav Havel Obituary: Czechs’ Dissident Conscience, Turned President (Dan Bilefsky and Jane Perlez, New York Times)

Vaclav Havel, the Czech writer and dissident whose eloquent dissections of Communist rule helped to destroy it in revolutions that brought down the Berlin Wall and swept Mr. Havel himself into power, died on Sunday. He was 75.

Politics/Foreign Policy

House sets Monday payroll-tax vote (Jonathan Allen, Politico)

The House will vote Monday on a Senate-passed payroll tax holiday bill, adding a new twist to a dramatic year-end confrontation with the Senate and President Barack Obama.The bill is expected to fail, according to a House GOP leadership aide.