Top Dem appropriator decries cuts to foreign operations

House Republicans' spending bill “underfunds our nation's diplomatic efforts,” the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee said Tuesday.

Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) issued a press statement decrying Republicans' proposed $40.1 billion spending proposal for the State Department and foreign-aid programs, which is $2 billion below this year's levels. He also denounced policy riders, such as the prohibition on funding for groups that provide abortions with their own money, which likely won't pass the Senate.

"I find it unfortunate that Republican leadership doesn’t give the State and Foreign Operations bill the same funding priority that it gives to other bills that address our national security," Dicks said in a statement. "This week we’ll also go to Subcommittee Markup on Defense, Homeland Security and Military Construction, VA; all of which are national security bills that have more adequate House allocations.

"This bill, however, underfunds our nation’s diplomatic efforts, overall development initiatives, and multilateral obligations, while also containing a series of highly controversial legislative riders that neither the President nor the Senate will accept and will inevitably be removed in conference negotiations."