Fight over Foreign Aid Levels Imperils U.S. Family Planning Assistance

The President's proposed foreign aid budget has run into opposition in Congress, opposition that could also endanger the President's proposed increase in international family planning assistance.  Opponents of the President’s proposed freeze on discretionary domestic spending are among those seeking cuts in the international affairs budget.

Earlier this year, the Senate Budget Committee adopted a budget resolution for fiscal year 2011 that trims the President's budget request for the State Department and foreign assistance by $4 billion to $54.49 billion, a cut of 7 percent. The cut, if upheld by the full House and Senate, could translate into a comparable size reduction in the $715.7 million proposed by the President for international family planning assistance, which is contained in the international affairs budget.

The next fiscal year begins on October 1, but it’s widely anticipated that the current budget deadlock may not be broken until the end of the year with passage of an omnibus appropriations bill. 

http://www.populationinstitute.org/newsroom/press/view/30/