After approval in both Chambers of Congress last week, President Barack Obama signed into law an FY 2017 continuing resolution (CR) that will keep the government funded until April 28, 2017, at the fiscal cap of $1.07 trillion, CQ.com reported. The legislation allocates a total of “$58.8 billion for the International Affairs Budget, an increase of $4.2 billion (8%) above FY16 levels”, according to the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition.
For the first time in 14 years, Congress approved and sent to President Obama to be signed into law, a Department of State Authorization Act (S.1635), as announced in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) press release.
The House of Representative’s Committee on Appropriations released the 2017 fiscal year report for the Department of State, foreign operations, and related programs. The Committee recommended a total of $602.79 million for Educational and Cultural Exchange programs. In total, the Committee recommendations for Academic programs totaled $311,441 million, while Professional and Cultural Exchanges totaled $208,240 million.
Please see below for more details on the Committee Report:
Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed its FY17 State-Foreign Operations (SFOPS) spending bill, including State Department exchanges. The House SFOPS subcommittee also released a draft bill text in advance of the mark-up of its FY17 SFOPS spending bill tomorrow.
Institutional grants and scholarship programs are increasing participation in study abroad, and helping students prepare for future career choices, according to two reports released during the 2016 NAFSA conference last week. Both reports specifically highlight the positive impact of these funding opportunities on students from underrepresented populations.
Ahead of the G-7 Summit taking place this week, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that over the next five years Japan will accept 150 Syrians as exchange students, rather than refugees, allowing them to attend Japanese universities.