The Senate Appropriations Committee is considered to be one of the largest Committee of the United States Senate and includes about 29 members in the 110th Congress. The Committee is responsible for writing the legislation allotting the funds to the majority of government agencies and organizations annually. Budget Resolution sets Appropriations and that is why they depend on the decision of the Senate Budget Committee.
The Constitution of the United States defines the role of the Senate Appropriations Committee. This Committee comprises the following twelve subcommittees:
- Legislative;
- Financial services;
- Food and agriculture administration;
- Science and commerce;
- Subcommittee of defense;
- Water and energy providing;
- Homeland Security;
- Environment agencies;
- Education and human recourses administrations;
- Military activities;
- Urban development and transportation;
- Foreign and state operations.
All these subcommittees are responsible for drafting legislation to allow federal funds to the agencies of the government within jurisdictions. They also bear responsibility for taking budget requests of the President and hearing different testimonies from the official representatives, and also fulfilling annual plans. Such a splendid work of the subcommittees is passed to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which reviews it and then gives it to the whole Senate for consideration. The Appropriations Committee can make some changes in this work and modify the bills.
Budget processes are carried out by Appropriations Committee on the basis of authorization laws, which create the budget authority. Authorization legislative finances annual programs of the budget. They provide major programs also with permanent financing; sometimes periodic funding is required and in this case, the legislative makes spending for them. If the program is expired the Congress has the right to renew it by providing new appropriations.
Every subcommittee is responsible for its sphere of activity, the members of subcommittees work out different reforms aimed at reaching and solving the necessary decision. For example, the subcommittee of Homeland Security is to secure the borders of the US and this task is considered to be the key one. But it demands serious funding efforts to fulfill the task and meet the requirements of the full Committee; it is the decision of the Chairman of this subcommittee Byrd, who objects to delay the funding for board fencing.
All the subcommittees of the Senate Appropriations Committee were created in order to handle different appropriations bills being responsible for their own topics; their tasks influence the allotment of the funding and thus the decision of the Committee and the Congress as a whole.
References
Supplemental Request Statement before the Senate Appropriations Committee. Magazine article: U.S. Department of Defense Speeches, 2006. Web.