By: Andrea Bodine
Members of Congress soon return to Washington and will then quickly run up to the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 on September 30. The House has passed less than half of its twelve appropriations bills, while the Senate has passed none, creating yet again a scenario where it is highly unlikely that any bills will be finalized ahead of the funding deadline. Instead, legislators will most likely focus on enacting a Continuing Resolution (CR) extending funding until a later date (likely post-election or even into early in 2025), but even this may prove difficult in what has been called the most unproductive Congress in recent history.
Given that we have slightly more than a week until lawmakers are back in session and the next chapter in the efforts to finalize FY25 funding unfolds, now is a good time to reflect on our work on behalf of exchange programs so far this year and the key lessons learned:
1. Budget constraints are a primary consideration in FY25 strategy.
At the beginning of the year, we faced many unknowns with FY24 funding not yet complete. While we were concerned with questions over the educational and cultural exchange (ECE) account and its funding level, we also had to wrangle with whether the government was on the verge of a shutdown and how a shutdown would impact our work. With Advocacy Day approaching in early March, there was no time to waste as Congress hammered out their differences. What we knew was that this cycle was going to be a difficult budget environment, so we aimed to be more tactical with our funding request for ECE programs in FY25. Working with our Appropriations Steering Committee and Working Group, we developed a request of $808.6 million (approx. 4% above FY23 enacted). This achieved our two goals of being reasonable enough to pass “the laugh test,” while also continuing to push for increased funding. We made a preemptive effort to strengthen this request through a survey of our federally funded members to demonstrate statistics of unmet demand. We also consulted with other associations who were facing similar challenges and turned to our close contacts on Capitol Hill for their feedback.
2. Bipartisan support cannot be taken for granted.
The FY24 enacted level whereby exchanges were cut by 4.7% was a good reminder that even noncontroversial programs are often affected by headwinds within the greater political environment. As we saw with the funding levels during the Obama-era sequestration battles, exchange programs are not immune to downward pressure on spending, despite their history of bipartisan support. To better insulate the ECE account from this pressure in FY25, we endeavored to communicate the value of these programs to congressional offices through as many opportunities as possible, especially those on the State-Foreign Operations appropriations subcommittees. Those touchpoints included:
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- 129 Advocacy Day meetings on Capitol Hill
- 81 written appropriations requests
- Bipartisan House sign-on letter with 110 Representatives
- Senate sign-on letter with 36 Senators
- Written testimony for the House and Senate record
- 10 meetings with SFOPS offices, and Appropriations Working Group members
This work contributed in no small part to the funding levels provided in the House and Senate bills. On the House side, the SFOPS bill funded exchange programs at $720.9 million, a $20 million increase compared to last year’s bill. The Senate bill proposed $761 million for ECE funding, which is $20 million more than the current enacted level. Given the political environment, both outcomes set us up in a strategic position for the conference negotiations to come.
3. Collective action is the most effective tool against programmatic threats.
Coming into this cycle, we knew that the threat of cutting amendments like the Biggs amendment we rallied against in FY24 was still present, and perhaps even more likely given the general push to reduce spending. However, we were met with not one House amendment targeting exchanges funding, but three that were approved by the Rules Committee for floor consideration. These amendments included:
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- one aiming to eliminate funding (introduced by Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL, 21));
- one proposing to reduce funding to FY19 levels (introduced by Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK, 2)), and;
- one prohibiting funding for the ECA program (introduced by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ, 9)).
In response, we swiftly mobilized our entire membership and the larger international exchange community to oppose these amendments. In less than 48 hours, our community did the following:
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- Sent 2,456 grassroots letters to 391 Representatives
- Direct outreach to more than 260 House offices
- Engaged Alliance member networks around the country
- Collaborated with lobbyist partners to reinforce our message
We also gained vocal support from Members of Congress on behalf of these programs on the House floor. Ranking Member of the State-Foreign Operations subcommittee, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA, 12) reaffirmed the significant value of exchanges while opposing the amendments: “These programs foster mutual understanding between the people of the United States and of other countries and promote peace and understanding. Lord knows we need this. They allow us to promote our values of democracy, freedom of the press and civic participation as well as promote dialogue, collaboration and the sharing of diverse perspectives especially for the cultivation of the next generation of global leaders.”
Collectively, we were able to defeat these amendments with strong bipartisan support: the Mast amendment was withdrawn the night before floor votes; the Brecheen amendment was voted down 246-164 on the House floor; and the Gosar amendment was also voted down 254-156 on the House floor as well. This success continues to demonstrate how capable and strong our advocacy is when we work together.
We are grateful to all of you who have helped us in this work. Mark Rebstock, Vice President, Deputy Director of Meridian Center for Global Leadership at Meridian International Center and member of the Appropriations Steering Committee, reflected on his meetings with congressional staff as follows: “These moments always remind me that the power of exchange programs is felt by many and that the personal connections to exchange run deep.”
Our efforts over the past eight months put us in a strong position to tackle the new and ongoing funding challenges facing our community. As we approach the upcoming November elections, our team will provide more opportunities for you and your organizations to take action and communicate the value of exchange programs to your colleagues, leadership, partners, and broader networks.