Senate appropriators have approved legislation that would boost Department of State exchange program funding in FY 2011 by more than $19 million, amidst a significant overall increase in funding for the Department.

The Senate committee bill provides a total of $654.277 million for State Department exchanges, $21.077 million above the President’s request and $19.277 million above the FY10 level. The Senate number represents a significant increase over the $635 million appropriated in the House version of the bill. The House number for exchanges matches the FY 2010 funding level. Differences in the Senate and House versions are resolved by a conference committee.

Overall, the Senate committee provided $17.297 billion for Department of State and related agency operations, an increase of $52.3 million above the President’s request and $1.354 billion above the FY10 figure. Within the overall number, Senate appropriators provided $9.6 billion for State’s Diplomatic and Consular Programs account, which funds many of the Department’s core operations. This marks an increase of $54.8 million over the President’s request.

In a committee press release Thursday evening, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, issued the following statement:

Although we could not fully fund the increases requested by the President, this bipartisan bill goes a long way to enhance the capacity of the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development to carry out security, diplomacy and development programs in areas of crucial importance to the United States, particularly in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and the Middle East. It also provides new funding to help developing countries deal with climate change, and to support global health, agriculture and food security, disaster relief, and many other security, development and humanitarian needs. Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), the Subcommittee’s Ranking Member, was instrumental in helping craft this bill, and I greatly appreciate his input and support.

The overall bill, including development assistance funding, appropriates $54.06 billion, roughly $2.5 billion short of the President’s request but an increase of over $5 billion from current (FY10) funding.