“While it is too early to tell what the specific implications may be for international family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) funding and policy, [Wednesday’s] Senate passage of a two-year, bipartisan budget agreement (H.J. Res. 59) sets the stage for the negotiation of final fiscal year 2014 appropriations legislation,” Population Action International reports in its newsletter. “The relaxation of sequestration and the inclusion of additional funding for non-defense discretionary programs could bode well for international affairs programs, including overseas family planning,” the newsletter states, adding, “Assuming that the amount of overall funding allotted to the State Department foreign operations appropriations bill is closer to that used by the Senate committee in approving its version back in July, the likelihood that FP/RH funding will stay at about current levels and remain under existing policy restrictions increases” (12/19).