In This Issue:

- DOMESTIC POLICY MATTERS

Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 Budget/Appropriations. On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee approved FY 2013 302(b) spending allocations that follow the $1.028 trillion level set in the House Budget Resolution – $19 billion lower than the $1.047 trillion level set by last year’s Budget Control Act and adopted by the Senate last week. The allocations for the State-Foreign Operations bill represent a $5 billion cut from the funding levels enacted in FY 2012, although the House proposes to fully fund the President’s Overseas Contingency Operations account. The House Appropriations Committee also approved the House version of the Energy and Water appropriations bill Wednesday and the Commerce-Justice Science (C-J-S) bill on Thursday. After passage of the C-J-S bill, House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Kentucky) announced the legislation will be taken up on the House floor the week of May 7th. Also on Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its Energy and Water and Agriculture appropriations bills....

FOREIGN POLICY MATTERS.

On Monday, during a speech on preventing mass atrocities at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, President Obama announced a new Executive Order that seeks to preserve global telecommunications supply chains in order to enable the free flow of information and to prevent entities located in whole or in part in Iran and Syria from facilitating or committing serious human rights abuses....

Please see full update for more information.