Facing significant pressure to reduce the federal budget deficit, some in the 112 th Congress viewed international affairs spending, particularly for foreign aid programs, as expenditures of limited benefit to U.S. taxpayers and eligible for cuts. Others favored a more robust foreign affairs budget for various reasons. In particular, some Members of Congress in both political parties, as well as the previous and current Secretaries of Defense, viewed a solid foreign affairs budget as essential to assisting the Defense Department in promoting U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, perhaps even saving long-term spending by preventing the much costlier use of troops overseas. To address budget costs, Congress considered the FY2013 Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Agencies appropriations in the context of the Budget Control Act of 2011. (See text box below.) Congress delayed passing most appropriations bills, including State-Foreign Operations, until after the start of the new fiscal year and the fall elections. It passed a continuing resolution (CR) that provided government funding until March 27, 2013. With that resolution soon to expire, the House passed legislation ( H.R. 933 ) on March 6, 2013, that would fund federal programs for the remainder of FY2013. The Senate approved an expanded version of the bill on March 20, 2013, and the House adopted the Senate version the next day. The legislation was signed into law on March 26, 2013 ( P.L. 113-6 ). The State-Foreign Operations appropriation, typically representing about 1.5% of the total federal budget in recent years, supports most programs and activities within the international affairs budget account, known as Function 150, including foreign economic and security assistance, contributions to international organizations and multilateral financial institutions, State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) operations, public diplomacy, and international broadcasting programs. The bill does not align perfectly with the international affairs budget, however. Food aid, which is appropriated through the Agriculture appropriations bill, and the International Trade Commission and Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, both funded through the Commerce-Science-Justice appropriation, are international affairs (Function 150) programs not funded through the State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill. Furthermore, a number of international commissions that are not part of Function 150, such as the International Boundary and Water Commission, are funded through the State-Foreign Operations bill. A chart illustrating the organizational structure of the State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill is provided in Appendix A . Abbreviations of terms used throughout this report are in Appendix B . The report focuses on the accounts funded through the State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill (see Appendix C for data), and it also provides appropriations figures for the entire international affairs (Function 150) budget in Appendix D . In order of the most recent events, congressional activity related to the State-Foreign Operations appropriations includes the following as summarized in Table 1 below: On March 26, 2013, President Obama signed the FY2013 Defense and Military Construction/VA, Full Year Continuing Resolution, P.L. 113-6 (see text box above), which funds most State-Foreign operations accounts for the remainder of FY2013 at the FY2012-enacted level, not including sequestration. Appendix C has been updated to show enacted FY2013 funding by account, but does not reflect estimated budget sequestration reductions. On September 28, 2012, President Obama signed the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013, H.J.Res. 117 into law ( P.L. 112-175 ), funding the government until March 27, 2013. On September 22, 2012, the Senate passed H.J.Res. 117 . On September 13, 2012, the House passed H.J.Res. 117 , a continuing resolution that would fund the federal government through March 27, 2013. H.J.Res. 117 would provide 0.612% more than FY2012 levels for State and Foreign Operations non-OCO funded activities. OCO-designated activities would be funded at the FY2012-enacted level. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the annualized State-Foreign Operations funding rate under the CR was estimated to be $53.52 billion. On May 24, 2012, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved by a vote of 29-1 its FY2013 State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill ( S. 3241 / S.Rept. 112-172 ). The bill provided a total of $52.3 billion, including $2.3 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funds. This was 5% below the $54.9 billion requested and 2% below the FY2012 estimated level. For the State Department and Related Agencies, the Senate sets FY2013 funding at $16.3 billion, including $1.6 billion for OCO. It funded Foreign Operations at $36.0 billion, including $709.8 million in OCO funds. On May 17, 2012, the House Appropriations Committee approved by voice vote its FY2013 State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill ( H.R. 5857 / H.Rept. 112-494 ) totaling $40.3 billion for regular funding and $8.2 billion for OCO. In total, the bill's $48.5 billion was 12% less than requested and 9% below the FY2012 estimated levels. Within the total, the bill provided $15.8 billion for the Department of State and Related Agencies accounts, including $2.9 billion in OCO funding and $32.9 billion for Foreign Operations accounts, including $5.4 billion in OCO funding On April 25, using the caps in the March 29, 2012, House-passed budget resolution ( H.Con.Res. 112 ) for guidance, the House Appropriations Committee approved its initial subcommittee allocations. The House allocation for the State-Foreign Operations subcommittee was $48.38 billion, including $8.2 billion in OCO funds, or almost 12% below the Administration's request and nearly 9% below the Senate allocation. On April 19, using the FY2013 budget authority caps in the Budget Control Act of 2011 ( P.L. 112-25 ) as guidance, the Senate Appropriations Committee adopted its initial FY2013 subcommittee allocations. The Senate allocated $53.02 billion for the State-Foreign Operations subcommittee, or 3% less than the Administration's request. This included $3.2 billion in OCO funds. On February 13, 2012, the Obama Administration submitted its FY2013 budget request to Congress, seeking an increase of 2.6% above the estimated FY2012 level for the Department of State-Foreign Operations and Related Agencies. On February 13, 2012, the Obama Administration submitted its FY2013 budget proposal. The Administration's priorities on foreign affairs funding for FY2013 did not differ significantly from the congressional priorities indicated by the enacted FY2012 funding levels. The FY2013 request totaled $54.9 billion for the State-Foreign Operations appropriations, including a core budget proposal of $46.6 billion plus $8.2 billion for extraordinary and temporary war-related Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) in frontline states. The total request represented an increase of 2.6% over the estimated FY2012 funding level for State-Foreign Operations, including a 4.5% increase in State Department and Related Agencies accounts and a 0.1% increase in Foreign Operations accounts. Within the budget, the Administration requested authority and $770 million in funds for a new bilateral economic aid account—the Middle East and North Africa Incentive Fund (MENA IF)—to provide flexible and transparent support for Arab Spring countries in transition toward democracy. Within the security aid category, the Administration sought $800 million for the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund (PCCF), even though most past PCCF funding has not been disbursed and many lawmakers have voiced concerns about U.S.-Pakistan relations, in general, and aid to Pakistan, specifically. Figure 1 provides a breakout of the FY2013 request by funding category. The FY2013 request reflected a slight increase of State Department Administration of Foreign Affairs funding as a share of the total request, from 25% in FY2012 to 26% requested for FY2013, a slight decrease from 40% in FY2012 to 39% requested for FY2013 for bilateral economic aid, and a small increase from 19% in FY2012 to 19.5% in the FY2013 request for security assistance funding. These three categories make up more than 85% of the total State-Foreign Operations funding requested. For a full listing of funds requested for State, Foreign Operations and Related Agency accounts, by account, see Appendix C . (For a description of all the accounts, see CRS Report R40482, State, Foreign Operations Appropriations: A Guide to Component Accounts , by [author name scrubbed] and [author name scrubbed].) The State Department and Related Agencies portion of the international affairs budget request included funding for State Department operations, International Organizations (including U.S. assessed dues to the U.N. system) and International Peacekeeping activities, International Broadcasting, and entities such as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP). The State Department and Related Agencies accounts would have seen, under the Administration request, a 4.5% boost in FY2013 to a total of $18.8 billion. This amount included $14.1 billion for Administration of Foreign Affairs, which provided for the personnel, operations, and programs of the department as well as the construction and maintenance of its facilities around the world.