US FY 2003 Budget Summary — by Craig Lasher, Population Action International

On February 4th, the President unveiled his FY 2003 budget request for international family planning and reproductive health programs. No line-item budget is included for the population assistance program of the U.S. Agency for International Development in any of the budget documents. Informed sources believe that the request level remains at $425 million, the same amount President Bush requested earlier last year for FY 2002. But since the FY 2002 foreign operations appropriations bill approved by Congress and signed by the President on January 10th earmarks not less than $446.5 million for the current fiscal year, this proposed funding level would represent a $21.5 million cut.

In a briefing of congressional staff by the State Department on February 4th, however, the only number for family planning and reproductive health programs that was volunteered in response to pointed questioning was $368.5 million, which was described as the portion of development assistance funds to be devoted to these activities. This funding level is consistent with the amount earmarked from the Child Survival and Disease Programs Fund in the current appropriations bill. If the actual request level in fact totals $425 million, the question remains from what other foreign aid accounts (e.g., Economic Support Fund or assistance for Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union) will funds have to come to make up the difference.

[It is very important to note in this regard that overall support for Eastern Europe is slated in the budget request to decline by $126 million, and there is likely to be strong competition within the other potential alternative funding sources for family planning programs as the Bush administration wages a global campaign against terrorism and commits additional resources for Afghan reconstruction.]

While it would have been desirable for the budget to include a specific number for total bilateral population assistance, it is quite likely that Congress will look to the FY 2002 appropriated level of $446.5 million--rather than the lower President's budget request--as its starting point for discussion as the foreign aid bill works its way through the appropriations process later this year.

The President's budget request also does not clarify the status of the U.S. contribution for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) for either FY 2002 or FY 2003. As you know, in response to renewed efforts by family planning opponents to link human rights abuses in China to UNFPA's presence there (albeit without any credible new evidence), the White House has directed that the $34 million contribution appropriated by Congress for this year be withheld pending a decision by the President.

A table outlining the request levels for voluntary contributions to various UN agencies being circulated by the State Department leaves blank the amount of funding for UNFPA in both FY 2002 and FY 2003. A subsequent line on the table--entitled "Reserved - To Be Allocated"--contains $34 million in FY 2002 and $25 million in FY 2003, amounts which have been consciously set aside until a decision has been made by the President on the fate of both current and future UNFPA funding.

The timing of a decision by the President remains unknown, although it is thought that his forthcoming trip to China in mid-February may be exerting an influence. But given that the $34 million figure for this year was the product of painstaking bipartisan negotiations in Congress, a decision by the President to zero-out or even reduce the UNFPA contribution below $34 million will provoke serious objections from key members of the Appropriations Committees from both parties in both houses.

Depending upon the depth of their unhappiness and willingness to confront the President over his disregard for clear congressional intent, there are a number of tools at their disposal to exert pressure on the President to reconsider his decision. These include "holds" on the reprogramming of funds for programs that the executive branch really cares about or even language in an FY 2002 supplemental spending bill to be considered later this spring directing the President to release the UNFPA contribution.

Although there is no ultimate deadline for action other than the end of the fiscal year, congressional supporters of UNFPA will probably only wait so long for the President to make up his mind before attempting to force his hand. And it is expected that regardless of what the President decides and when, congressional appropriators will insist on a hard earmark for UNFPA in next year's appropriations bill to prevent a reoccurrence of the present dispute.

For additional detail, please see the funding tables available on the State Department website (including the one referenced above relative to the UNFPA contribution) at http://www.state.gov/m/rm/rls/iab/2003/

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Population Action International (PAI) is an independent policy advocacy group working to strengthen public awareness and political and financial support worldwide for population programs grounded in individual rights. Founded in 1965, PAI is a private, non-profit group and accepts no government funds.