48 JUNE 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL FY24 Appropriations Outcomes AFSA ON THE HILL | BY KIM SULLIVAN On March 8, Congress passed the first Fiscal Year 2024 minibus, which includes funding for six of the 12 annual appropriations bills and three of AFSA’s six represented agencies—the Foreign Commercial Service (FCS), the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). On March 22, Congress passed the second minibus for the remaining six appropriations bills, including funding for the remaining three foreign affairs agencies that AFSA represents— the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). While partial federal government shutdowns were avoided with passage of the two minibuses, any enacted funding cuts will need to be absorbed by agencies in the remaining months of FY24. Significant FY24 funding cuts were expected as part of the bicameral and bipartisan appropriations minibuses, a compromise to prevent even deeper cuts proposed by the House earlier in 2023. Foreign aid accounts, rather than operational accounts, received the deepest cuts—about 10 percent—within the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs appropriations (SFOPS) bill. Without final FY24 appropriations signed into law before the end of April, an automatic 1 percent across-the-board cut would have gone into effect due to provisions in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. The final FY24 minibuses include a total of $60.1 billion for the International Affairs Budget (IAB), funding for diplomacy and development activities. This is a $3.6 billion cut for the IAB from the final FY23 level with emergency funds taken into account. While this is the first IAB decrease in more than half a decade, operational accounts for foreign affairs agencies did not suffer as severely as other IAB accounts. Most cuts to foreign affairs agencies’ operational accounts remained below 3 percent. Diplomatic programs (DP), the main State Department personnel and programs account, was cut by less than 1 percent. Congress also included language stating that funding for public diplomacy programs within the DP account is either level with the FY23 level or not subject to cuts. USAID’s operating expenses account and the USAGM accounts were cut by just under 3 percent. The APHIS salaries and expenses account received a cut of less than 1 percent, as did the International Trade Administration account that contains FCS. FAS received a 4 percent cut, the most of all the foreign affairs agencies. The explanatory statement for the SFOPS appropriations bill included language expressing support for addressing anomalous health incidents (AHIs), specifically mentioning funding for compensation of those affected by AHIs eligible under the Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks (HAVANA) Act of 2021. Finally, the Commission on Reform and Modernization of the State Department was funded in FY24 appropriations. This commission will examine the changing nature of diplomacy and the ways in which the department can modernize to advance the interests of the United States; it will then offer recommendations to the president and Congress. As I write this column, Congress is scheduled to pass a supplemental national security package that includes an additional $26.8 billion for SFOPS appropriations to help address ongoing crises globally including in Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. For operations, this package includes more than $230 million across the State Department and nearly $40 million for USAID Operating Expenses. Moving into the next fiscal year, AFSA will urge appropriators to provide a robust FY25 International Affairs Budget with funding equivalent to at least the amount requested by the administration. AFSA will also urge the foreign affairs agencies to minimize the effect of the FY24 cuts on personnel as much as possible, discouraging any pauses in hiring and encouraging our 2023 State Department Authorization Act wins to be fully funded. n Significant FY24 funding cuts were expected as part of the bicameral and bipartisan appropriations minibuses, a compromise to prevent even deeper cuts proposed by the House earlier in 2023. AFSA NEWS
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