Congress Approves UNFPA Funding for 2005

But President Bush is Unlikely to Spend It

November 23, 2004: Acting at the last possible minute last weekend to appropriate funds for nearly all U.S. government spending in fiscal 2005, the U.S. Congress again approved $34 million for UNFPA, the UN Population Fund, and its reproductive health programs in more than 140 countries. But President Bush virtually certain to withhold the U.S. funding for the fourth year in a row as the bill contains legislative language known as the Kemp-Kasten amendment that President Bush has used to justify withholding UNFPA’s funds over the past three years. UNFPA’s critics continue to charge, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that the agency’s mere presence in China makes it complicit in forced abortions and sterilizations there.

The omnibus bill’s Foreign Operations section also reprogrammed the $34 million UNFPA lost last year, sending $12.5 million to the U.S. State Department to combat sex trafficking and $12.5 million to family planning and reproductive health programs run by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The remaining $9 million will be used by USAID for international development assistance. The omnibus measure also includes another $441 million for USAID’s family planning and reproductive health programs, and Senate language overturning the Global Gag Rule was removed.

As part of its action, Congress agreed that if this year’s $34 million is withheld, all of it will go to USAID family planning programs.

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