July 2006
The Senate Appropriations Committee released its report this week detailing funding provisions contained in its version of the fiscal year (FY) 2007 spending bill for the State Department. The bill was approved by the Committee on June 29. As previously reported by the Alliance, the bill includes an increase for the Department’s educational and cultural exchange programs, calling for a total of $445.522 million in FY 2007. That level is above the $436.275 million included in the House version of the bill and below the $474.288 million proposed by President Bush. It is also $19.25 million above the $426.275 million approved by Congress in FY 2006 (this number incorporates the across-the-board cut and rescissions that were applied to last year’s funding bill).
Funding bills for the State Department’s fiscal year (FY) 2007 spending moved forward in Congress last week with action in the full House of Representatives and in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Both versions of the legislation include increases in funding for the State Department’s educational and cultural exchange programs. Some have expressed concern, however, that the increases will not be sufficient to cover all of the Department’s major priorities, including the President’s new National Security Language Initiative (NSLI). Of the $114 million proposed for that Initiative, approximately $26 million has been slated to come from the Department of State. The House version of the legislation does not address the NSLI. The Senate legislation and accompanying Committee report are not yet publicly available, so it remains unclear whether the program is funded.
On Wednesday July 26, Sens. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Norm Coleman (R-MN) introduced legislation to create the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Program. Drawing on the recommendations of the Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program issued last November, the legislation, S. 3744, would create a program that encourages not less than one million undergraduate students at institutions of higher education in the U.S. to study abroad for academic credit within 10 years of enactment.
Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) introduced legislation on Friday that would express the sense of the Senate that the federal government should endorse the goals set forth by the Commission on the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program to expand the opportunity for students at institutions of higher education in the U.S. to study abroad. The bill seeks a review of the Commission’s recommendations by the Secretary of Education one year after enactment. The review would include a report to Congress on the feasibility of implementing the recommendations and establishing a national scholarship program, as recommended by the Commission, that provides opportunities for students at institutions of higher education to study abroad.
The Senate Appropriations Committee released its report this week detailing funding provisions contained in its version of the fiscal year (FY) 2007 spending bill for the State Department. The bill was approved by the Committee on June 29. As previously reported by the Alliance, the bill includes an increase for the Department’s educational and cultural exchange programs, calling for a total of $445.522 million in FY 2007. That level is above the $436.275 million included in the House version of the bill and below the $474.288 million proposed by President Bush. It is also $19.25 million above the $426.275 million approved by Congress in FY 2006 (this number incorporates the across-the-board cut and rescissions that were applied to last year’s funding bill).
Funding bills for the State Department’s fiscal year (FY) 2007 spending moved forward in Congress last week with action in the full House of Representatives and in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Both versions of the legislation include increases in funding for the State Department’s educational and cultural exchange programs. Some have expressed concern, however, that the increases will not be sufficient to cover all of the Department’s major priorities, including the President’s new National Security Language Initiative (NSLI). Of the $114 million proposed for that Initiative, approximately $26 million has been slated to come from the Department of State. The House version of the legislation does not address the NSLI. The Senate legislation and accompanying Committee report are not yet publicly available, so it remains unclear whether the program is funded.
