The Trump administration has proposed a 30 percent decrease in fiscal 2018 for the State Department’s budget, alongside more modest decreases to the specific line items concerning the department’s arms control and nonproliferation work.
The White House released last week a budget proposal requesting $37.6 billion for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development for fiscal 2018, a significant cut from the $53.1 billion the department currently receives under the fiscal 2017 omnibus appropriations spending bill.
More specifically, the budget requested $5.3 billion for diplomatic and consular programs – down from the current $6.1 billion. This includes the diplomatic policy and support line item that covers the department’s arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament activities, which would receive $722.4 million under the proposal for “management of U.S. participation in arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament negotiations and other verification and compliance activities,” according to the budget document.
Diplomatic policy and support currently receives $757.7 million, which means in fiscal 2018 it would see a decrease of $35.3 million under the proposed level – a modest decrease in light of the 30 percent overall proposed cut to the State Department.
Trump’s budget also proposed $312.8 million for nonproliferation, anti-terrorism, demining and related programs – an account that includes the U.S. contribution to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Preparatory Commission and the nation’s voluntary contribution to the International Atomic Energy Agency. This represents an almost $200 million decrease from the programs’ current funding level of $500.7 million.
