The House State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee approved a markup of the FY 2011 appropriations bill yesterday afternoon that will allocate $735 million to family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) programs. The markup, which is $20 million above the President’s Budget request, appropriates $675 million to bilateral FP/RH programs of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and $60 million to the UN Population fund, according to Population Action International. The bill does not include a permanent repeal of the global gag rule. The $735 million proposal for FY 2011 is a 13 percent increase from FY 2010 and a 58 percent increase over the last three fiscal years. Of the $675 million designated towards USAID, $600 million will be put towards the Global Health and Child Survival account, with the remaining $75 million to be divided between Economic Support Funds (ESF) and Assistance for Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia (AEECA) accounts. In her opening statement, Subcommittee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) said that the bill does not include a permanent legislative repeal of the global gag rule “at the request of our ranking member and out of consideration for a bipartisan bill.” Despite this, she said she “continue[s] to be personally committed to the permanent repeal of the global gag rule.” Ranking member Kay Granger (R-TX), who opposes a repeal of the global gag rule, said, “there are legitimate concerns about family planning funds that are spent abroad, and Mrs. Lowey again deserves credit for not altering longstanding provisions in this bill that address some of these concerns.”
Uncategorized
