Appropriations Watch - State/Foreign Operations

The following are provisions to watch and pray over in the Department of State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill:


Helms Amendment—language to protect life by preventing foreign aid from being spent for abortion.

Mexico City Policy—must be silent on the President’s pro-life Mexico City Policy. (Federal Register: March 29, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 61) page 17301-17313)

• In prior years, Rep. Smith has offered amendments to protect the Mexico City policy.
• Language such as Rep. Lowey's H.R. 619 could be used to overturn the policy.

Kemp-Kasten—allows the President to discontinue funding to organizations that support or participate in the management of a coercive abortion program.

• It has been included since FY 1985.
• This is the provision that President Bush used to eliminate funding for UNFPA in FY 02, FY 03, FY 04 and FY05

UNFPA Funding—FY 06 kept UNFPA at $34 million. (UNFPA is the U.N. Population Fund.)

• If Kemp-Kasten is invoked on the FY 06 contribution, the $25 million of this funding from International Organizations and Programs "shall be" transferred to the "Child Survival and Health Programs Fund" for "family planning, maternal, and reproductive health activities."
• Also includes language to keep direct US funding out of China, keep the US contribution separate and not co-mingled and in addition, the US contribution to UNFPA would be decreased by the amount of money UNFPA spends in China.

Tiahrt Amendment—ensures that population control funds are only used in programs which are certified to be voluntary in every respect (enacted since FY 1999)

• This provision became necessary after it was discovered that women were being forcibly sterilized against their will in Peru.

Notwithstanding Provision—allowed HIV/AIDS funds and other disease funds to be spent notwithstanding any other provision of law.

• This provision was modified to reference the provisions that govern the AIDS law (HR 1298) so that the money would be governed by existing pro-life riders that govern foreign aid.

Peace Corp—language preventing Peace Corps money from being used to pay for abortion.

PEPFAR 1/3 Abstinence Funding

International Family Planning Funding—"family planning" is often a euphemism for abortion.


Expected timeline for this bill:

• Full Appropriations Committee next week
• House floor, the week of June 18