[Budget of the United States Government]
[VI. Investing in the Common Good: Program Performance in Federal Functions]
[13. International Affairs]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
13. INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 13-1. FEDERAL RESOURCES IN SUPPORT OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
(In millions of dollars)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimate
Function 150 1997 -----------------------------------------------------------
Actual 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spending:
Discretionary Budget Authority.......... 18,150 19,034 20,150 19,234 18,947 18,836 18,777
Mandatory Outlays:
Existing law.......................... -3,754 -4,464 -4,130 -3,764 -3,637 -3,396 -3,201
Credit Activity:
Direct loan disbursements............... 1,755 2,148 2,050 2,770 1,831 1,548 1,524
Guaranteed loans........................ 13,022 12,826 12,188 12,747 13,357 13,867 13,884
Tax Expenditures:
Existing law............................ 7,090 7,685 8,305 8,950 9,625 10,335 11,045
Proposed legislation.................... ........ ........ -580 -1,356 -1,456 -1,545 -1,634
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Administration proposes $20.2 billion for International Affairs
programs in 1999, including arrears on contributions to the multilateral
development banks (MDBs). By fully funding these programs, the United
States can continue to provide critical international leadership to
accomplish key strategic goals, such as enhancing national security,
fostering world-wide economic growth, supporting the establishment and
consolidation of democracy, and improving the global environment and
addressing other key global issues. The State Department outlined these
goals more fully in its September 1997 report, ``United States Strategic
Plan for International Affairs.''
The performance goals that follow are from agency strategic or
performance plans. In addition to these goals, agencies have established
other performance goals for themselves to ensure that they fulfill their
legislative mandates in ways that also contribute to U.S. national
interests.
National Security
U.S. security depends on active diplomacy, steps to resolve
destabilizing regional conflicts, and vigorous efforts to reduce the
continuing threat of weapons of mass destruction. Strong diplomatic
engagement depends on a clear foreign policy vision, built on a
vigorous, carefully coordinated process of formulating policy.
A strong, active United Nations enhances U.S. diplomatic efforts, and
the budget proposes to fund assessed contributions to this and other
international organizations, as well as annual assessed and voluntary
peacekeeping contributions. The budget also proposes the necessary funds
to support the Middle East peace process through the Economic Support
Fund (ESF) and the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) programs. ESF also
provides direct assistance to address the root causes of other regional
conflicts, such as the lack of fair and effective systems of justice,
and FMF also provides funds to help the incoming NATO members--Poland,
Hungary, the Czech Republic, and other East European nations.
Economic and reconstruction assistance and police training are
critical to our effort to support the Dayton Accords on Bosnia, and
funding under the FREEDOM Support Act helps foster the transition to
market democracies in the former Soviet Union. Finally, the budget fully
supports further progress
[[Page 156]]
on our efforts to control weapons of mass destruction by funding the
Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) and other programs that seek
to negotiate cuts in, or the elimination of, such weapons.
Relevant agencies will meet the following performance goals in 1999:
The State Department, in seeking to advance the Middle East
peace process, will achieve significant progress towards
fulfilling the goals of the Oslo Accord.
The State Department will avert or defuse regional conflicts
where critical national interests are at stake through
bilateral U.S. assistance and U.N. peacekeeping activities.
The State and Defense Departments will ensure that the armed
forces of NATO's ``candidate countries'' can operate in a
fully integrated manner with other NATO forces upon their
planned entry into NATO.
The State and Defense Departments and the Agency for
International Development (USAID) will achieve significant
progress toward implementing the Dayton Accords in Bosnia.
The State Department and USAID will help Russia and the other
former Soviet republics strive to achieve a per capita Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate, a share of GDP generated
by the private sector, and an average of Freedom-House
indicators of democratic and political liberties higher than
the comparable 1997 levels.
The State Department and ACDA will achieve full compliance
with, and verification of, treaties regarding weapons of mass
destruction and, if necessary, combat suspected development
programs.
The State Department will fully certify mission critical
systems for year 2000 compliance and complete a world-wide
upgrade of the information technology infrastructure that
supports U.S. embassies and consulates.
Economic Prosperity
International affairs activities increase U.S. economic prosperity in
four ways.
First, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), supported by the State
Department and other agencies, works to reduce barriers to trade in U.S.
goods, services, and investments by negotiating new trade liberalizing
agreements and strictly enforcing existing agreements.
Second, the Export-Import Bank (Eximbank) and the Trade and
Development Agency (TDA) provide grant and credit financing to correct
market distortions that can put U.S. exports at a competitive
disadvantage, and the budget provides a major increase in Eximbank
funding to cover increased demand from U.S. exporters. The Overseas
Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) provides investment insurance and
financing for development projects with U.S. trade benefits.
Third, development assistance from the MDBs and USAID, along with debt
reduction, help increase economic growth in developing and transitioning
countries, creating new markets for U.S. goods and services and reducing
the economic causes of instability in these regions.
Fourth, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is instrumental in
maintaining the underlying economic prerequisites for prosperity world
wide by mitigating the effects of country and regional financial crises,
such as those recently experienced in Asia, while helping individual
developing countries to create and maintain stable market-oriented
economies.
Relevant agencies will meet the following performance goals in 1999:
USTR will negotiate cuts in specific, identified barriers to
U.S. and global trade, and will effectively enforce
international trade agreements.
The Export-Import Bank will develop new mechanisms to expand
the availability of financing for U.S. exports by pioneering
joint ventures with the private sector, as well as innovative
financing programs that
[[Page 157]]
will increase the Bank's support for small and medium-sized
exporters.
OPIC will increase, from 1997 levels, the amount of U.S.
investment in developing countries assisted through OPIC-
sponsored projects.
TDA will increase, from 1997 levels, the ratio of TDA-
supported exports to TDA expenditures and the percentage of
TDA projects that ultimately yield U.S. exports.
USAID, through bilateral assistance, and the Treasury
Department, through its contributions to the MDBs, will
provide assistance that helps to increase the real annual per
capita GDP growth rate from 1997 levels in developing
countries.
Treasury will work to provide the IMF with sufficient
resources to address monetary crises in Asia and other parts
of the world and reduce the amount of supplemental U.S.
bilateral resources needed to address these crises.
American Citizens and U.S. Borders
The State Department, through the U.S. passport office and the network
of embassies and consulates overseas, helps and protects Americans who
travel and reside abroad--most directly through various consular
services, including citizenship documentation and help in emergencies.
The Department also helps to control how immigrants and foreign visitors
enter and remain in the U.S. by effectively and fairly administering
U.S. immigration laws overseas and screening applicants, in order to
deter illegal immigration and prevent terrorists, narcotics traffickers,
and other criminals from entering the United States.
The State Department will meet the following performance goals in
1999:
Improve U.S. passport security by issuing U.S. passports with
a digitized passport photo.
Maintain uninterrupted screening capabilities to ensure that
only qualified applicants receive visas for travel to the
United States.
Complete the world-wide modernization of consular systems and
meet year 2000 requirements, thus ensuring border security.
Law Enforcement
The expansion and rising sophistication of transnational crime
represents a growing threat to the property and well-being of U.S.
citizens. In particular, the threat of terrorism and the continued
supply of illegal drugs to the United States represent direct threats to
our national security. The budget funds the State Department's
diplomatic efforts to convince other countries to work cooperatively to
address international criminal threats; it also funds assistance and
training that helps other countries combat corruption, terrorism, and
illegal narcotics, and provides the developing countries with economic
alternatives to narcotics cultivation and export.
The State Department, working with the Departments of Justice,
Treasury, and Defense, will meet the following performance goals in
1999:
Increase, from 1997 levels, the number of foreign governments
that enact and enforce legislation to combat corruption, money
laundering, and other transnational criminal activities.
Reduce, from 1997 levels, the hectares of coca and opium
poppies being cultivated in producing countries.
Democracy
Advancing U.S. interests in the post-Cold War world often requires
efforts to support democratic transitions, address human rights
violations, and promote U.S. democratic values. The budget supports
these efforts in two ways. First, it funds the State Department's
diplomatic efforts that discourage other nations' interference with the
basic democratic and human rights of their citizens, and it funds direct
foreign assistance through USAID and other agencies that helps countries
develop the institutions and legal structures for the transition to
democracy. Second, it promotes democracy by funding exchanges of people
and ideas with other countries. The exchange, training, and foreign
broadcasting programs of the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) seek to
spread U.S. democratic values
[[Page 158]]
throughout the world and ensure that Americans understand and value the
peoples and cultures of other nations.
Relevant agencies will meet the following performance goals for 1999:
The State Department, USAID, and USIA will provide assistance
that lead to the improvement of Freedom House ratings of
countries in which the United States is assisting the
transition to democracy.
As a result of State Department diplomacy and direct
assistance, the instances of human rights abuses as reported
by the State Department in the annual U.S. Report on Human
Rights will be reduced from 1997 levels.
USIA will increase, from 1997 levels, the support for
democracy, democratic institutions, and human rights in
selected countries that participate in USIA programs, as
measured through polling.
Humanitarian Response
U.S. values demand that we help alleviate human suffering from foreign
crises, whether man-made or natural, even in cases with no direct threat
to U.S. security interests. The budget provides the necessary funds to
address and, where possible, try to prevent, humanitarian crises through
USAID's Foreign Disaster Assistance and Transition Initiatives programs,
through the State Department's Migration and Refugee Assistance program,
and through food aid provided under ``Public Law 480'' authorities. Much
of this funding is implemented through U.S. private voluntary
organizations that provide humanitarian, as well as development,
assistance overseas. The budget also funds a significant contribution to
the UNICEF program of the United Nations, and a significant increase for
U.S. bilateral demining efforts to address the growing humanitarian
crisis caused by landmines in areas of former conflict.
Relevant agencies will meet the following performance goals for 1999:
USAID, in conjunction with other public and private donors,
will provide humanitarian assistance that will maintain the
nutritional status of children aged five or under living in
regions affected by humanitarian emergencies.
The State Department will reduce refugee populations, from
1997 levels, through U.S.-sponsored integration, repatriation,
and resettlement activities.
The State Department will increase, from 1997 levels, the
number of mines detected and neutralized.
Global Issues
The global problems of environmental degradation, population growth,
and the spread of communicable diseases directly affect future U.S.
security and prosperity. As a result, the Nation has targeted
significant diplomatic and assistance efforts to address these issues.
For example, the State Department's negotiation of the Kyoto global
climate change treaty and USAID's five-year, $1 billion global climate
change assistance effort will reduce the threat of this global problem.
Full funding of current commitments and arrears to the Global
Environment Facility remains critical to this effort.
Similarly, U.S. leadership, USAID assistance efforts, and funding of
the U.N. Population Fund are critical to maintain the rate of increase
in global prosperity, reduce the pressures of illegal immigration on the
U.S. economy, and help alleviate the causes of regional conflict. U.S.
support, mainly through USAID, for bilateral and multilateral activities
to reduce the global threat of AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other
communicable diseases not only saves the lives of millions of children
world-wide but also reduces the direct threat to the United States that
these diseases pose if they spread unchecked.
Finally, the volunteer programs of the Peace Corps serve U.S. national
interests by promoting mutual understanding between Americans and the
people of developing or transitional nations and providing technical
assistance on a range of issues to interested countries that request it.
Relevant agencies will meet the following performance goals in 1999:
The State Department and USAID, working with the
Environmental Protection
[[Page 159]]
Agency and with other bilateral and multilateral donors,
through diplomacy and foreign assistance will slow the rate of
increase, from 1997 levels, of climate change gas emissions
among key developing nation emitters.
USAID will provide assistance in conjunction with other
donors that will cut, from 1997 levels, the total fertility
rates in developing countries.
USAID, working with the Department of Health and Human
Services and with other bilateral and multilateral donors,
will provide assistance that will reduce, from 1997 levels,
the infant mortality rate and the rate of new cases of AIDS,
malaria, tuberculosis and other critical communicable diseases
in developing countries.
The Peace Corps will provide opportunities for 50 percent
more Americans than in 1997 to enter service as new
volunteers.
The Peace Corps will increase Americans' understanding of
other peoples by tripling, from 1997 levels, the number of
American teachers participating in the World Wise Schools
partnership with Peace Corps volunteers, bringing the total
number of teachers to 10,000.