Congress Spending Package Restricts Aid to Egypt, Pakistan

WASHINGTON – Congress would impose restrictions on aid to Egypt, Pakistan and the Palestinian Authority in a $53.3 billion bill that avoids deep cuts in foreign assistance and State Department funding that Republicans had pursued this year.

The legislation is part of a sweeping, $1 trillion-plus year-end spending package that provides money for 10 Cabinet agencies through next September. The House was expected to pass the measure on Friday and the Senate sometime this weekend.

Foreign aid amounts to just 1 percent of the federal budget, but lawmakers intent on cutting the deficit, especially conservative tea party Republicans, have clamored for significant reductions in spending overseas. Democrats and the State Department, led by Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, successfully pressed to spare the accounts.

The legislation would provide $53.3 billion for foreign assistance and the State Department -- $42.1 billion for the base budget and $11.2 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operations account. That account pays for the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and other expenses. Lawmakers shifted costs for security and economic assistance, funds for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development into the account, increasing the amount from $7.6 billion to $11.2 billion

Still, the base budget is some $6 billion less than the current level and $8.7 billion below what President Barack Obama sought for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The bill does provide the full funds of $3.1 billion in security assistance for ally Israel.

Reflecting concerns about uncertainty within the Egyptian government, the bill would restrict $1.3 billion in security assistance to Cairo and $250 million in economic assistance until the secretary of state certifies to Congress that Egypt is abiding by a 1979 peace treaty with Israel, military rulers are supporting the transition to civilian government with free and fair elections and "implementing policies to protect freedom of expression, association and religion and due process of law."

The military took over in Egypt after longtime President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular revolt in February. On Friday, Egypt held its second round of parliamentary elections.

The legislation restricts aid to Pakistan until the secretary can certify that Islamabad is cooperating on counterterrorism, including taking steps to prevent terrorist groups such as the Haqqani network from operating in the country. The amount was unspecified in the legislation as Congress gave the Obama administration flexibility to figure out the funds.

A separate defense bill would freeze $700 million for Pakistan until the defense secretary provides Congress a report on how Islamabad is countering the threat of improvised explosive devices.

The bill continues the same restrictions on aid to the Palestinian Authority, requiring the secretary to certify that it is committed to a peaceful co-existence with Israel and is taking appropriate steps to combat terrorism. Economic assistance for the Palestinians is in jeopardy if they pursue statehood recognition in the United Nations over the objections of the United States and Israel, which wants to resume negotiation talks.

The amount was not spelled out, again leaving it to the administration to sort out.

The restrictions carry a waiver for national security.

In a victory for the Democrats and the administration, the bill dropped a House-backed ban on federal money for international family planning groups that either offer abortions or provide abortion information, counseling or referrals.

The policy has bounced in and out of law for the past quarter century since Republican President Ronald Reagan first adopted it 1984. Democrat Bill Clinton ended the ban in 1993, but Republican George W. Bush re-instituted it in 2001 as one of his first acts in office. Within days of his inauguration, Obama reversed the policy.