On November 29, 1999, President Clinton signed into law the ConsolidatedAppropriations Act for FY2000 ( H.R. 3194 ; P.L. 106-113 ), legislationthat enacts by reference H.R. 3422 , the Foreign OperationsAppropriations Act, FY2000. H.R. 3422 was the third ForeignOperations measure debated by Congress in 1999 and represented the results ofextensive negotiations between Congress and the White House to resolve fundingdifferences. President Clinton had vetoed the first Foreign Operations measure( H.R. 2606 ) because it cut $1.92 billion from his request. H.R. 3422 provides $13.5 billion for regular foreign aid programs, plus$1.8 billion over three years for the Wye River/Middle East peace accord, for a totalpackage of $15.3 billion. H.R. 3422 remains about $900 million belowthe President's amended budget proposal. In addition to including the Wye River money, the new Foreign Operations measure adds $799 million for several accounts that Congress had reduced earlier,including the World Bank's International Development Association and funds for thePresident's counter-proliferation Expanded Threat Reduction Initiative in the formerSoviet Union. New funding is offset by delaying the transfer beyond FY2000 of $550million of Israel's military aid. This will not reduce Israel's $1.92 billion militaryaid, but because the funds would have been placed in an interest bearing account,it will result in the loss to Israel of interest earned on the early disbursement. The most significant Administration funding priority not included in the revised Foreign Operations measure is multilateral debt relief for poor developing countries. Congressional negotiators agreed to an additional $90 million for bilateral debtrelief -- bringing the debt reduction total to $123 million -- and they adopted amodified authorization (in H.R. 3425 , also enacted by reference in P.L.106-113 ) for the U.S. to support the IMF off-market sale of gold. Congress,however, would not add another $250 million to forgive debt owed to multilateralinstitutions or $600 million requested for debt relief in FY2001-2003. On the mostcontentious issue, the Administration further accepted abortion-related internationalfamily planning policy restrictions in exchange for congressional approval of nearly$1 billion in U.N. arrears payments. On November 30, President Clinton exercisedhis waiver authority to exempt the abortion conditions from applying to $15 millionof the $385 million population aid appropriation and said he would oppose inclusionof these restrictions in future spending measures. The annual Foreign Operations appropriations bill is the primary legislativevehicle through which Congress reviews and votes on the U.S. foreign assistancebudget and influences executive branch foreign policy making generally. (1) It containsthe largest share -- about 70% -- of total international affairs spending by the UnitedStates (see Figure 1 ). The legislation funds all U.S. bilateral development assistanceprograms, managed mostly by the U.S. Agency for International Development(USAID), together with several smaller independent foreign aid agencies, such as thePeace Corps and the Inter-American and African Development Foundations. ForeignOperations includes separate accounts for aid programs in the former Soviet Union(also referred to as the New Independent States (NIS) account) and Central/EasternEurope, activities that are jointly managed by USAID and the State Department. Security assistance (economic and military aid) for Israel and Egypt is also part of theForeign Operations spending measure, as are smaller security aid programsadministered largely by the State Department, in conjunction with USAID and thePentagon. U.S. contributions to the World Bank and other regional multilateraldevelopment banks, managed by the Treasury Department, and voluntary paymentsto international organizations, handled by the State Department, are also funded inthe Foreign Operations bill. Finally, the legislation includes appropriations for threeexport promotion agencies: the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC),the Export-Import Bank, and the Trade and Development Agency. From the perspective of congressional oversight and involvement in U.S. foreign aid policy making, the Foreign Operations bill has taken on even greatersignificance during the past decade. Congress has not enacted a foreign aidauthorization bill since 1985, leaving most foreign assistance programs withoutregular authorizations emanating from the legislative oversight committees. As aresult, Foreign Operations spending measures increasingly have expanded their scopebeyond spending issues and played a major role in shaping, authorizing, and guidingboth executive and congressional foreign aid and broader foreign policy initiatives. It has been largely through Foreign Operations appropriations that the United Stateshas modified aid policy and resource allocation priorities since the end of the ColdWar. The legislation has also been a key tool used by Congress to apply restrictionsand conditions on Administration management of foreign assistance, actions thathave frequently resulted in executive-legislative clashes over presidentialprerogatives in foreign policy making. President Clinton submitted his FY2000 federal budget request to Congress onFebruary 1, 1999, including funding proposals for Foreign Operations Appropriationsprograms. Subsequently, House and Senate Foreign Operations Subcommittees have held a series of hearings, including testimony from Secretary of State Albright,Treasury Secretary Rubin, and USAID Administrator Atwood. Skipping a formalsubcommittee markup, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported on June 17, S. 1234 . The full Senate approved the bill on June 30 by a vote of 97-2. The House Foreign Operations Subcommittee marked up its bill on July 14, followedby full Committee approval of H.R. 2606 on July 20. The Houseapproved the legislation on August 3. The following day, the Senate took up H.R. 2606 , deleted all of the House-passed text, substituted language in S. 1234 , passed H.R. 2606 , as amended, and requested aconference with the House. House and Senate conferees met on September 22, 1999, agreeing to all issues in dispute except international family planning. Members resolved this final issuein disagreement on September 27 and filed a conference report. With PresidentClinton threatening to veto H.R. 2606 because of reductions to hisbudget request, the House (214-211) and Senate (51-49) agreed on October 5 and 6,respectively, to the conference report, clearing the measure for the White House. President Clinton vetoed the legislation, however, on October 18, because of lowfunding levels and the absence of appropriations for several initiatives, including theWye River/Middle East peace package and an expansion of the Heavily IndebtedPoor Country (HIPC) debt relief program. The House, on November 5, approved a revised Foreign Operations measure ( H.R. 3196 ) that was acceptable to the White House. Furthernegotiations yielded a few additional changes to H.R. 3196 ,modifications that are reflected in a third Foreign Operations appropriation measure, H.R. 3422 . That bill is enacted by reference as part of the H.R. 3194 , the Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2000 ( P.L.106-113 ), that includes five appropriation measures and other legislation. Table 1. Status of Foreign Operations Appropriations, FY2000 H.R. 2606 H.R. 3196 H.R. 3422 * * H.R. 3422 is enacted by reference in H.R. 3194 , the Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2000. Conference report 106-479 pertainsto H.R. 3194 . As the United States has adjusted its foreign and defense policy to a post-ColdWar environment, one of the major foreign assistance challenges for Congress andexecutive branch policymakers has been to formulate the most effective foreign aidprogram amidst a tightening resource base. After peaking at $20.7 billion in FY1985, Foreign Operations appropriations began a period of decline, falling to about $12.3 billion in FY1997. Foreign aidspending cuts were especially sharp in FY1996 when Congress cut funding by $1.15billion, nearly 9% from the previous year. Many government and non-governmentexperts argued that these budget reductions seriously undermined U.S. foreign policyinterests and limited the ability of American officials to influence overseas events. After Foreign Operations funding levels fell again in FY1997 -- although by muchsmaller amounts -- the State Department and other executive agencies launched anaggressive campaign in to reverse the decade-long decline in the foreign policybudget. This effort coincided with congressional approval of a near $1 billionincrease for FY1998, setting Foreign Operations appropriations at $13.15 billion. Foreign Operations funds rose again to $13.8 billion in FY1999 when lawmakers, atthe urging of the White House, added nearly $900 million in the final days of the105th Congress. As shown in Table 2 , the amount for FY1999 was the highest in five years, bolstered especially by $2.1 billion supplemental funding for Central Americahurricane relief, Kosovo humanitarian aid, and several other foreign assistanceemergencies. For FY1999, Foreign Operations represented 0.87% of the entirefederal budget and 2.6% of total discretionary budget authority. By comparison,these same figures in FY1985 were 2% and 4.6%, respectively. Table 2. Foreign Operations Appropriations, FY1993 to FY1999 (discretionary budget authority in billionsof current dollars) * The amount for FY1999 includes the "base" Foreign Operations Appropriations (the regular appropriation approved in P.L. 105-277 ) plus $2.1 billion in emergencysupplementals enacted in P.L. 105-277 and P.L. 106-31 . It excludes, however,$17.861 billion for the IMF.