President Bush signed on December 8, 2004 the FY 2005 Omnibus Appropriations
bill that Congress had passed in November. The omnibus is comprised
of nine appropriations bills including foreign operations.
Appropriators sustained Senate levels of funding for core development
and humanitarian assistance accounts, boosting funding above the levels
contained in President's budget request and above what Congress enacted
in FY2004. Overall, funding for non-AIDS funding in the Child Survival
account, development assistance programs, and disaster and refugee
assistance was increased by nearly $255 million over last year's levels
and nearly $307 million above the President's 05 budget request. The
major increases were in the Development Assistance account, which saw
a boost of $83 million over last year and $131 million above the
President's request and in the Disaster Assistance account which was
$116 million above the FY2004 levels to reflect the famine prevention
funds that were added to the account. However, there were also some
small increases for refugee assistance, child and maternal health,
infectious diseases and international programs. The attached chart
provides a breakdown of the funding for the core development and humanitarian
assistance accounts.
Total funding for HIV/AIDS will come in at $2.9 billion--a slight
increase over the President's request for HIV/AIDS. Of the $2.9 billion,
$2.3 billion for HIV/AIDS is funded within the foreign operations bill,
and the remaining $600 million is funded in the Labor HHS appropriations
bill. Appropriators allocated $1.385 billion for the President's AIDS
initiative which is below the President's request of $1.450 billion.
The Global Fund will receive a total funding level of $437.8 million
($337.8 from foreign operations and $100 m from Labor HHS). The Global
Fund is funded at $250 million in new money and the remaining $87.8
million is from unobligated funds for the Global Fund in the FY 2004
enacted bill. About $600 million for HIV/AIDS is funded within the
Child Survival and Health account and a small amount from other
accounts in the foreign operations bill.
After days of negotiations between appropriators and the White House,
funding for the Millennium Challenge Account was finally settled at
$1.5 billion, one billion below the President's request of $2.5 billion.
Ten percent of these funds are to be used for assistance to the MCA
threshold countries.
Appropriators allocated $311 million for Sudan, of which $45 million
is from the International Disaster Assistance account and the Office
of Transition Initiatives account. The bill also includes a provision
to allow a transfer of an additional $93 million from the Iraq Reconstruction
Fund for humanitarian and security assistance to Sudan. Of that amount,
$75 million is to be used for security purposes and $18 million is
for humanitarian assistance.
Total funding for Afghanistan is $980 million. Within the $980 million, $50
million is to be used for assisting women and girls, and nearly $8
million in assistance is for supporting women-led Afghan NGOs.
Several accounts were funded at below the President's request level.
Peace Corps is funded at $320 million, about $80 million the President's
request level of $401 million and the World Bank's IDA is funded at
$850 million.
