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.