The Senate Appropriations Committee cut $2.6 billion from the FY 2011 International Affairs Budget yesterday, lowering the total available for the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs bill to $54.056 billion, down from the President’s requested level of $56.656 billion. Appropriations Committee chair Daniel Inouye (D-HI) said that the cuts came as a result of the “severe economic difficulties facing our nation”

The levels recommended for our subcommittees, while austere, will allow the federal government to invest in the programs critical to sustaining this economic recovery, provide essential services to the American people, and safeguard our nation’s security.

The State and Foreign Ops appropriations subcommittee has not yet scheduled its markup of their bill. The House State and Foreign Ops subcommittee marked up its own bill on July 1, providing $635 million for State Department educational and cultural exchange programs in FY 2011, an increase of $1.8 million over the President’s request of $633.2 million but a flat-line with the FY 2010 enacted level.