FY07 Budget Request Cuts
Core Programs to Fund Initiatives

For the first time since InterAction designated the seven core humanitarian and development accounts in 2002, the request for these programs has been cut -- by nearly $326 million. The funding requested for Child Survival and Health, Development Assistance, International Disaster Assistance, and International Organizations and Programs is decreased in the proposed budget. Transition Initiatives and the refugee accounts (both Migration and Refugee Assistance and Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance) see small increases in the Administration’s proposal

The biggest winners in the budget request are the presidential initiatives. HIV/AIDS funding increased to $4.27 billion in the FY 2007 request, including $2.9 billion for the President’s HIV/AIDS Initiative -- a rise of $843 million over the FY 2006 level. The President also requested $3 billion for the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA.) While this is the same amount requested last year, Congress only appropriated $1.75 billion for the MCA in FY 2006. The president’s budget request also proposes funding for the initiatives announced last year prior to the Group of Eight (G8) meeting in Gleneagles, including a new malaria initiative, debt cancellation, the African Education Initiative, and a Women’s Justice and Empowerment Initiative for Africa.

Context Within the Rest of the Budget

The total request for the FY 2007 budget request is $2.77 trillion with an overall increase of 3% in discretionary spending. Proposed cuts to entitlement programs such as Medicare are expected to cause difficulties for lawmakers who fought hard against them last year. Very few agencies receive an increase in their discretionary budget; Defense, Veterans Affairs, and State and International Programs see the largest increases. Education, Health and Human Services, and the Justice Department receive some of the largest cuts in the budget request for FY 2007.

In the International Affairs Budget, the Administration requested $35.1 billion, representing a 10% increase over FY 2006 Enacted.  This marks the fifth consecutive year that the Administration has called for increases in the International Affairs Budget. For the Foreign Operations portions of the budget, the president requested a total of $23.7 billion, or an increase of 14.6% over last year’s post-rescission enacted levels.

Child Survival

The President’s request for the Child Survival and Health Account (CSH) reduces funding to $1.433 billion -- a $136 million cut below FY 2006. All sub-accounts within CSH are affected with the exception of Infectious Diseases. Family planning is hardest hit, with a $77 million cut below last year’s levels. This family planning level also includes the voluntary contribution to the UN Population Fund. Infectious Diseases is bolstered by a $135 million request for the President’s Malaria Initiative, which will expand to seven high-burden countries in FY 2007, and by a $55 million request for programs to combat avian flu. Most of the cut to the child survival account comes from global programs and those in the Western Hemisphere.

Development Assistance

The President’s budget requests $1.28 billion in funds for development assistance (DA) -- $226 million below the FY 2006 enacted level. Under this budget, countries in every region of the world will see decreases in the amount of development assistance available to them, with the exception of regional programs targeted to the Asia-Near East. The President requests $256 million for basic education programs within DA -- a $105 million cut from the FY 2006 enacted level. Administration officials have stated that further education money will be allocated in other parts of the budget, which would boost the total budget for these programs over the FY 2006 levels. However, these additional funds will likely focus on basic education programs in Afghanistan and Iraq. The budget request also included $100 million for the African Education Initiative, an initiative announced prior to the 2005 G8 Summit, in the Development Assistance account.

Humanitarian Assistance: Refugees, Disasters & Transition Initiatives

The FY 2007 budget request includes $349 million for international disasters and famine assistance -- a decrease of $12 million from last year’s level -- compounding an already existing shortfall for humanitarian needs created by cuts in the FY 2006 enacted level. Twenty million dollars of this amount is intended for famine prevention and mitigation.

Migration and Refugee Affairs received an increase of $49.9 million to a level of $833 million. However, these increases for Migration and Refugee Assistance are largely directed to refugee admissions, thus leaving overseas assistance below the FY 2005 spending levels. The request for the Emergency Migration and Refugee Account is $55 million, a $10.4 million increase over FY 2006 enacted levels.

The Office of Transition Initiatives also received a small increase of $10 million to a request level of $50 million.

International Organizations and Programs

The FY 2007 budget request proposes $289 million for the voluntary contributions to multilateral programs. The amounts requested for UNICEF and UNDP are both below the requests for last year.

HIV/AIDS

The FY 2007 budget request includes a total of $4.27 billion dollars to respond to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, of which $2.9 billion is requested specifically for the President’s HIV/AIDS Initiative. Funding for bilateral AIDS programs in the CSH account to address needs in non-focus countries falls for the third year to $325 million. The president’s budget requests $300 million for The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria: $200 million of which would come out of Foreign Operations and $100 million from the Labor-HHS (Health and Human Services) accounts.

MCA

The request for the Millennium Challenge Account has increased more than any other line in the foreign operations budget -- $1.25 billion over FY 2006 enacted levels. This is intended to allow the Millennium Challenge Corporation to approve at least ten additional compacts in FY 2007, building on the five compacts approved in FY 2005 and the six approved compacts expected in FY 2006. The $3 billion request is still below the initial projected ramp-up for the initiative of $5 billion annually by 2006.

Sudan

The total amount of funding for Sudan in the FY 2007 budget request is $1.1 billion. Increases are included for both African Union peacekeeping forces ($41.4 million) and assessed contributions for the UN Mission in Sudan ($441.9 million.) Funding is also proposed for Sudan from Child Survival ($20 million), Development Assistance ($70 million), Economic Support Funds ($60 million), Disaster Assistance ($163 million), and Migration and Refugee Assistance ($73 million).

Afghanistan

The President’s budget requests nearly $1.1 billion for programs in Afghanistan from the Foreign Operations portion of the budget. The largest requests are for International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement ($297 million) and Economic Support Funds ($610 million). The ESF money is requested for infrastructure, support for the central government, alternative livelihood programs, and the provincial reconstruction teams. Nearly $200 million is requested for Child Survival and Health and Development Assistance programs.

Other Key Accounts – Peace Corps, Debt Relief, Conflict Response Fund, Food Aid

The FY 2007 budget request includes $336.7 million for the Peace Corps – an increase of nearly $18 million. The budget request also fulfills the levels needed to carry out the debt cancellation committed to at the 2005 G8 Summit by requesting $950 million for the International Development Association.

The Administration has also added $75 million for a Conflict Response Fund to their budget request. This request was also in last year’s proposed budget, but Congress zeroed out its funding.

The FY 2007 budget request included $1.22 billion for Title II food aid, a slight increase over the FY 2006 enacted levels. The budget request also includes a proposal that 25% of these funds be available for local cash purchases.

Over 100 InterAction Members Put Forth Request for FY 2007 Budget

InterAction's presentation on FY07 Budget