Foreign Operations bill advances with pro-life protections and UN oversight requirements

By Rebecca Oas, Ph.D. and Lisa Correnti

WASHINGTON D.C., August 1 (C-Fam) The U.S. foreign operations bill advanced toward passage last week in the House of Representatives, maintaining the inclusion of pro-life provisions and mandating oversight on United Nations funding in line with President Donald J. Trump’s America First agenda.

Now titled the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs (NSRP) Appropriations Act, the bill was approved by the full appropriations committee in a vote of 35-27.  It provides a total discretionary allocation of $46.218 billion, which is $13.13 billion (22%) below the Fiscal Year 2025 enacted level, $5.5 billion below the version of the bill passed in the House for 2025.

House Democrats, led by Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), proposed an amendment that would have removed several pro-life provisions.  The amendment would increase international family planning funding, reinstate funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and strip language that blocks funding to foreign organizations that promote and provide abortions.  This language echoes President Trump’s executive order Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance, which expands President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 Mexico City Policy to cover all global health assistance, not just family planning.

Representative Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL), the chairman of the appropriations subcommittee which drafted the bill, urged his fellow representatives to oppose the Wasserman Schultz amendment.  “It is our duty to strengthen not weaken pro-life protections in our bill. Americans do not support using foreign assistance to fund abortions.”

Representative Robert Aderholt (R-AL) joined him, reminding the committee of the history of the Mexico City Policy and the fact that Democratic President Joe Biden had not only rescinded the pro-life policy, but violated longstanding U.S. law by allowing U.S. funds to be used for abortion abroad. In January it was discovered that the Center for Disease Control violated the Helms Amendment by using U.S. taxpayer dollars from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to fund abortion services in Mozambique.

Aderholt noted that according to a Marist poll, 78% of Americans, including 61% of Democrats, oppose the funding of overseas abortion. The pro-abortion amendment failed in a 26-33 vote in the committee.

The House bill also provides several measures for the oversight of UN agencies. The Secretary of State would be required to conduct an assessment of whether international agencies meet transparency and accountability standards, particularly those receiving U.S. contributions.  Some agencies would be subject to increased oversight or total defunding on the basis of antisemitism, anti-Israel bias, the procurement of goods or services from Russia, or a lack of institutional neutrality.

These measures aim to ensure that U.S. contributions to UN agencies are used effectively and align with U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. In 2023 the United States contributed 28% of the UN budget. To assure U.S. foreign assistance has adequate scrutiny the bill allocates almost $200 million to the Inspector general of the State Department.

In line with President Trump’s America First agenda, the bill would require that only the U.S. flag and other official government flags be flown over U.S. embassies.  It also seeks to support the president’s executive orders to ensure no wasteful spending on DEI or “woke” programming, climate change mandates, or divisive gender ideologies by banning funding to programs linked to executive orders by his predecessor, President Biden.  It also bans “disinformation” and “misinformation” programs that violate the free speech rights of American citizens.

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