July 18th, 2008 by Stephen

Yesterday afternoon, the full Senate Appropriations Committee held a session to markup three of the annual appropriations bills for Fiscal Year 2009: for State and Foreign Operations, Agriculture, and Defense.  The markup of the State and Foreign Operations bill, which contains all funding for foreign assistance and nearly all funding for other international affairs programs, was considered rather quickly and approved by a 28-1 vote.

The bill grants $36.62 billion, which represents a $3.82 billion increase over the levels granted for FY08, but just over $1 billion less than the President’s budget request for FY09. Of note was the sharp reduction in funding for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, down from more than $1.5 billion a year ago to only $254 million to cover administrative costs. The committee has not yet released the full text or all details of the bill, but they have made available a summary of key points on their website.

For POMED’s notes on yesterday’s markup, click here.

Posted in Congress, Congressional Hearing Notes (Senate), Foreign Aid, Legislation | Comment »

April 10th, 2008 by Sharlina

POMED’s hearing notes are now available for the appearance of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Iraq on Tuesday.  Both testified to significant security improvements as a result of the troop increase in the summer of 2007 and argued that “fragile” progress has created an atmosphere of encouraged political reconciliation among varying groups. Members of the committee challenged the pair on issues of Iraqi sovereignty, the status of progress on eighteen political benchmarks, and reconstruction costs.

Posted in Congressional Hearing Notes (Senate), Iraq, Military, US foreign policy | Comment »