By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Writer A bill authorizing the funding of a new State Department office that will promote abortion and homosexuality overseas was able to pass the House in spite of efforts by conservative members of both parties to stop it. It will now be up to the Senate to stop it. By a vote of 235-187, the Foreign Relations Authorization Bill (H.R.2410) was passed by the House yesterday. This bill creates the Office of Global Women’s Issues which intends to spearhead a massive new effort to promote abortion and homosexuality abroad. The bill also provides a 23 percent pay raise for Foreign Service Offices and created 19 other new government programs that experts say the U.S. can ill afford in this time of ever-deepening deficits. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) told the chamber, "...[B]eyond these extraordinary increases (a single year increase of 35% in the State Department's basic salary and operations), this legislation does a disservice to the values of the millions of Americans who cherish the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage . . . We deserve a foreign relations budget that respects our pocketbooks and our values. This does neither." Eighteen Democrats crossed over to vote with conservatives in blocking the bill, but in the end, it just wasn't enough, said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. “Through this headquarters for ‘women's empowerment,’ the State Department will now have even more resources at its disposal to export the President's radical social agenda,”  Perkins said. Also responding to the vote was Charmaine Yost, Ph.D., president and CEO of Americans United for Life . "If this act becomes law, it will be a grave injustice to women around the world," Yost said. "Our elected representatives have no business using the diplomatic strong-arm of the United States to avidly promote abortion expansion overseas and undermine pro-life laws around the world.  I call on the Senate to reject this proposal." To see how your Congressman voted, visit http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll328.xml    © All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace®  http://www.womenofgrace.com