Administration Budget Request for IAEA Rises

Daniel Horner

The Obama administration is requesting $85.9 million for its voluntary contribution to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for fiscal year 2012, an increase of about $20 million from the current level.

Because Congress has not approved spending bills for most federal agencies for fiscal year 2011, much of the government has been funded by a series of so-called continuing resolutions, which generally keep spending at the previous year’s level. The current spending bill expires April 8; the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

The congressionally appropriated funding for the U.S. voluntary contribution to the IAEA in fiscal year 2010 was $65.0 million. According to a Department of State budget document, the “significant increase” represented by the fiscal year 2012 request is “part of a multi-year commitment” to the IAEA.

The request for the IAEA voluntary contribution is included in the State Department’s foreign operations budget. The assessed contribution is part of the section of the budget covering State Department operations. The request for the assessed contribution to the IAEA for fiscal year 2012 is $107 million, a rise from the current level of $103 million, according to a State Department budget document.

In the request for the assessed contribution for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, there is a slight decrease from the current level to the fiscal year 2012 request, from $25.3 million to $25.1 million.