The FY25 request includes a proposed 1% increase ($656 million) for the IA Budget from the FY23 adjusted enacted level, raising it to $64.4 billion. Within that funding, Educational and Cultural Exchange Program (ECE) funding has been allocated $777.5 million (DOS Budget Appendix, pg. 751-752), which is the same amount as the current FY23 enacted level.
The Appropriations Working Group recently decided on an ask of $808.6 million for DOS educational and cultural exchanges (ECE) in FY25. Here’s how we arrived at that number.
Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have completed their subcommittee and full committee markups of their respective State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPS) bills in recent weeks. Educational and cultural exchanges were funded at $700.95M (approx. 10% decrease) by the House bill and $779.5M (approx. 0.25% increase) by the Senate bill. See the chart below for more details and a comparison with the President’s budget request and current enacted level.
The Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) appropriations cycle is officially in full swing with the release of the Biden Administration’s proposed budget late last week. The President’s $6.8 trillion request, while unlikely to be enacted in the current divided Congress, presents a starting point for the negotiations to come.