“If you speak to a man in a language he understands, you speak to his head,” Nelson Mandela once said. “If you speak to him in his own language, you speak to his heart.”

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 House Agriculture Committee last week passed the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, a bill that would end a ban on travel to Cuba and ease restrictions on agricultural exports to the island, CQ.com reports: “The bill (HR 4645), approved 25-20 by the Agriculture Committee on June 30, would prohibit the president from regulating travel to Cuba.…’This legislation is the right policy at the right time,’ said Agriculture Chairman Collin C.

The U.S. and World Education Act (HR 3359), introduced in July 2009 by Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), picked up its 214th co-sponsor last week. The bill was referred to Education and Labor Committee when it was first introduced last summer, though no indication has been given as to if and when the bill may pass.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs marked up its FY 2011 appropriations bill yesterday afternoon, providing $635 million for Department of State educational and cultural exchanges. This funding level constitutes a $1.8 million increase from the President’s FY 2011 request of $633.2 million and matches the FY 2010 enacted level of $635 million.

The Department of State's proposed rule on the high school category of the Exchange Visitor Program, published on May 3, includes a provision prohibiting single parents without school age children in the home from hosting exchange student students. The proposed regulations suggest that single host parents put students at risk, but do not offer any data to support this conclusion. 



After much budgetary uncertainty on Capitol Hill, action is finally expected this week on the FY 2011 budget. The House State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee will mark up its FY 2011 spending bill on Wednesday, June 30, at 4:00 p.m. The Senate State-Foreign Ops subcommittee is expected to act on its own spending bill just after the July 4th recess.

The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) reports that “after several weeks of budgetary limbo on Capitol Hill, action is expected” this week on the FY 2011 budget. The impending budget developments include:

The U.S. Senate confirmed by voice vote this morning the nomination of Ann Stock for Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs. CQ.com reports that in addition to Stock, the Senate confirmed more than 60 other nominees, including several Pentagon civilian appointees, members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and several U.S. attorneys.

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, spoke yesterday at the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) about the importance of ensuring sustained funding for the Foreign Service and other “civilian elements” of the U.S. national security strategy.