Senate panel: No more 'diplomacy on a shoestring'

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday approved a one-year State Department authorization measure that adds nearly $400 million to the Bush administration's budget request. Lawmakers elected to shift other, potentially controversial budget items, including foreign aid, to a separate bill, to be marked up May 1.

The bill is estimated at roughly $9.3 billion. The committee did not recommend decreasing any funding levels, committee Chairman Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., said at the markup. The funding total appears lower than the Bush administration's $10.4 billion State Department request for fiscal 2004 because of the budget items that will be considered separately.

Lugar told the committee that the State Department budget was underfunded in the 1990s, and, despite funding increases under the Bush administration, "we are still conduction diplomacy on a shoestring in an era when embassies are prime terrorist targets and we depend on diplomats to build alliances, block visas to potential terrorists, and explain U.S. policies worldwide."

The committee's increases over the Bush request included the following: an additional $312 million for construction on three new embassies; $8 million to increase the cap on hardship and danger pay for State Department employees; $8.9 million to restore cuts to international broadcasting programs to eastern and central Europe; the restoration of $25 million that was cut for SEED and Freedom Support Act funding to central Europe and the Balkans; and, a $30 million addition to strengthen public diplomacy and international exchanges with the Muslim world.

Lawmakers were intent upon improving the United States' image in the Muslim world by funding broadcasting programs, among other mechanisms. As ranking Democrat Joseph Biden of Delaware put it, "most people in the Middle East get their news from television, and we need to be on it."

The bill, as modified by a managers' amendment, provides grant authority to the Board of Broadcasting Governors to establish a Middle East television network along the lines of Radio Free Europe, and to improve signal delivery to Cuba.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., proposed an amendment that would have set up a foundation for democracy in Iran that would have, among other things, funded U.S.-based broadcasting to Iran in support of democracy.

Brownback withdrew his amendment after lawmakers and State Department officials at the markup expressed concern over how the measure would be perceived.

"It smacks just a little bit of America moving on from Iraq to Iran," said Sen. John D. Rockefeller, D-W.Va.

Lawmakers also balked at the $50 million pricetag. Brownback volunteered to modify the amendment to make it less controversial, and then perhaps to offer it at the markup of the foreign aid bill.

Television broadcasting would be part of a larger effort, known as public diplomacy, to improve the view of the U.S. in the Muslim world.

Biden told lawmakers that the bill overall will boost public diplomacy.

Lugar worked ahead of time to ensure that the markup went smoothly-including separating out contentious foreign aid items-and the bipartisan nature of the bill was reflected in the 18-0 vote.

The measure covers operating expenses for the State Department, embassy construction and security, education and cultural exchange programs, and funding for contributions to international organizations, international commissions, international broadcasting, and, refugee and migration assistance.

It sets at 27.1 percent the cap on United Nations peacekeeping assessment, allowing the United States to avoid accruing future peacekeeping arrears. It also increases the congressional notification thresholds for arms sales, and also gives the government increased authority to transfer to Israel obsolete or surplus defense items. The measure authorizes $4.4 billion for foreign military financing and $91.7 million for the International Military Education and Training program.

The bill also repeals requirements for two reports on activities in Colombia that were contained in the fiscal 2003 authorization bill.

The measure passed the committee unanimously. Only Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., who had left the committee room, did not vote.