House Approves FY 2007 Funding for State Department; Includes Increase for International Educational Exchange Programs

On June 29, the House of Representatives passed by a vote of 393-23 the FY 2007 Science, State, Justice, and Commerce (SSJC) Appropriations bill, H.R. 5672, providing $436.28 million in funding for the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. This is $10 million more than the amount approved by Congress for FY 2006, yet $38 million below what had been requested by the Bush Administration for FY 2007. Report language accompanying the bill, drafted by the House SSJC Appropriations Subcommittee, did not specify funding levels for individual programs; however, it did outline priorities for funding, namely that "to the maximum extent possible, the Committee urges that the following programs be supported: the Congress-Bundestag youth exchange program; the disability exchange clearinghouse; foreign study grants for U.S. undergraduates; Future leaders exchange programs; Teaching Excellence Awards and Partnerships in Education; Educational advising in Eurasia; Muskie Graduate and Ph.D. Fellowships; Youth Exchange and Excellence Award programs; the Junior Faculty Development program; educational advising and counseling; citizen exchange programs; interparliamentary exchanges; youth science leadership exchanges; American overseas research centers; international forum on democracy; university consortium; Mitchell Scholarships; and exchanges with Tibet, the South Pacific, and Timor Leste."

During debate on the House floor, Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) considered offering an amendment to reduce the amount of funding for these programs by $10 million and put it toward the Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice Programs. However, thanks to the many phone calls made by NAFSA’s Advocacy Centered Team (ACT) to her office and to other representatives' offices advocating against the amendment, in the end, she did not offer the amendment. On the same day the SSJC bill passed the House, the Senate began consideration of its own version of the funding legislation, with the Senate Appropriations Committee approving a slightly larger increase in its allocation for the State Department’s education and cultural exchange programs, to $445 million. The full Senate is expected to vote on their version sometime before they adjourn for the August recess.