State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs: FY2011 Budget and Appropriations

The annual State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs appropriations bill has been the primary legislative vehicle through which Congress reviews the U.S. international affairs budget and influences executive branch foreign policy making in recent years, as Congress has not regularly considered these issues through a complete authorization process for State Department diplomatic activities since 2003 and for foreign aid programs since 1985. Funding for Foreign Operations and State Department/Broadcasting programs has been steadily rising since FY2002, after a period of decline in the 1980s and 1990s. Ongoing assistance to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as large new global health programs and rapidly increasing assistance to Pakistan, has kept the international affairs budget at historically high levels in recent years. The change of Administration in 2009 did not disrupt this trend. However, increasing concern about the federal budget deficit and accountability for funds already provided has halted this growth in FY2011. On February 1, 2010, President Obama submitted a budget proposal for FY2011 that requested $58.68 billion for the international affairs budget, a 3% increase over the enacted FY2010 funding level, including supplementals. If $1.8 billion in forward funding of FY2010 priorities appropriated in FY2009 supplemental legislation is counted toward FY2010 rather than FY2009 totals, as it was by the Administration, and the enacted FY2010 supplemental is factored in, the FY2011 request would represent a slight decrease from FY2010-enacted levels. CRS Report for Congress.