House Republicans Reverse United States Leadership on the World Stage in State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Bill

WASHINGTON — Today, House Appropriations Committee Republicans passed their fiscal year 2024 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations bill that unravels the hard-fought credibility and influence the United States has earned as a global leader. The bill threatens our national security and puts the American people and global health at risk.

With $11.1 billion in rescissions from the Environmental Protection Agency programs in the Inflation Reduction Act, the draft bill includes $52.5 billion for global programs and activities, which is $7.2 billion below the 2023 level, a cut of 15 percent. The legislation:

• Threatens national security by abdicating U.S. leadership at the United Nations (UN) and other multilateral and international financial institutions by not including any funding for the UN Regular budget, the UN Development Program, UN Women, and the World Health Organization (WHO).
• Underfunds the operations and staffing of the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). 
• Hampers the U.S. response to the climate crisis by eliminating support for adaptation, sustainable landscapes, and clean energy programming.
• Threatens women’s health globally by prohibiting the United States from contributing to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), substantially underfunding bilateral family planning, and reinstating the Global Gag Rule on non-governmental organizations that receive U.S. assistance.

“US foreign policy rests on three pillars - diplomacy, development and defense. The FY24 SFOPS bill slashes diplomacy and development, leaving our country less safe and secure, both today and in the future. I cannot support this feeble bill that ignores the challenges of global poverty, historic migration, a changing climate, and conflict within and between states,” State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Ranking Member Barbara Lee (D-CA-12) said. “These challenges cannot be addressed by one country—our only chance at success is to work together with our partners and allies to tackle these problems.  The GOP’s underfunded, go-it-alone approach makes America and the world less safe.”

Congresswoman Lee’s remarks as prepared for delivery are here.

“Global engagement and foreign assistance are critical to bolstering our national security and maintaining the United States’ position as a global leader,” Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said. “In their 2024 funding bill, House Republicans are catering to their most extreme members at the expense of America’s historic position on the world stage. Whether we are talking about military, economic, or humanitarian assistance—any of the areas our foreign policy takes us— we are ceding leadership to our adversaries. This bill makes us less safe, fails to address the climate crisis, and opens the door for China and Russia to fill the gaps we would leave behind should this bill be enacted. We must start working together instead of continuing to consider these harmful bills.”

Congresswoman DeLauro’s remarks as prepared for delivery are here.

Key provisions of the bill as passed by the full committee are below.

The 2024 funding bill:

• Hinders the U.S. response to the Climate Crisis by:
  • Only including funding for biodiversity conservation.
  • Prohibiting funding for the Green Climate Fund.
  • Prohibiting funding for the Clean Technology Fund.
  • Prohibiting funding for any loss and damage claims attributed to climate change.
  • Preventing democracy, security, gender, agriculture, or water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programming from being attributed to climate objectives. 
  • Prohibits funds under Power Africa from being used for renewable energy unless matched by other sources of energy.
• Funds global health but curtails partnerships with the rest of the world by:
  • Including $3.6 billion for USAID global health programming, a $542 million decrease from 2023.
  • Prohibiting funding for the WHO.
  • Prohibiting funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the EcoHealth Alliance, gain of function research, and any lab controlled by China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.
• Threatens women’s health globally by:
  • Substantially decreasing funding for bilateral family planning to $461 million, a decrease of $114 million from the 2023 level.
  • Prohibiting the U.S. from contributing to UNFPA.
  • Legislatively reinstating the Global Gag Rule on non-governmental organizations that receive U.S. assistance.
• Put the United States into arrears at international organizations by:
  • $245.8 million for the Contributions to International Organizations account (CIO), a decrease of $1.2 billion from 2023 and $1.5 billion below what would be needed to pay our full assessed dues.  
  • Eliminating the International Organizations and Programs Account, endangering support for UN Women, UNICEF, and the UN Development Program (UNDP).
  • Includes new withholding on the United Nations.
  • Significant reductions and eliminations for international financial institutions leading to unpaid U.S. bills.
• Shortchanges Development and Economic Assistance making future investments in economic growth and social protections impossible. The bill:
  • Provides $3 billion for Development Assistance, a decrease of $1.4 billion from 2023. 
  • Provides $2.98 billion for Economic Support Funds (ESF), a decrease of $1.3 billion below 2023.
    • Includes an additional $1 billion in ESF to counter the malign influence of the People’s Republic of China.
• Humanitarian Assistance - $6.45 billion for humanitarian assistance under the accounts Migration & Refugee Assistance (MRA) and International Disaster Assistance (IDA), $2 billion below 2023, a cut of 23 percent.
   
• Peacekeeping - $1.269 billion for Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities (CIPA), $213 million below 2023, and $420.5 million for Peacekeeping Operations (PKO), $40.3 million below 2023.
   
• Peace Corps - $410 million, $20 million below 2023.
   
• Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) - $905 million, $25 million below 2023.
   
• United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) - $807.9 million, $76.8 million below 2023.
   
• Inter-American Foundation (IAF) - $22.5 million, $24.5 million below 2023.
   
• U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) - $30 million, $15 million below 2023.

The bill also includes partisan riders that:

• Prohibit funding to implement, administer, apply, enforce, or carry out Executive Orders on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility harming progress in increasing diversity in the nation’s diplomatic and development workforce.
• Prohibit funds from being used for envoys or special advisors unless they have been authorized by Congress or confirmed by the Senate.
• Prohibit funding from being used on “drag queen workshops, performances, or documentaries.”
• Ban funding for any activity that promotes or advances Critical Race Theory.
• Ban funding that may be used to classify or facilitate classification of any communications by a U.S. person as “mis, dis, or mal-information” – this would permit the spread of falsehoods without the ability to present the facts.
• Ban funding for counseling, promotion, or the carrying out of surgical procedures or hormone therapies for gender-affirming care.
• Prohibit funding for the government of People’s Republic of China or the Chinese Communist Party and prevents lending through the international financial institutions to the People’s Republic of China.
• Prevent funding to be used to implement or enforce an agreement with Iran relating to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or to revoke the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization.
• Prohibit funds to implement the Arms Trade Treaty.

The text of the bill, before the adoption of amendments in full committee, is here. The bill report, before the adoption of amendments in full Committee, is here.

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