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U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations is a standing committee of the United States Senate. It is charged with managing budget and federal funding legislation in the Senate.
The Senate Appropriations Committee is the largest committee in the U.S. Senate, consisting of 28 members. Its role is defined by the U.S. Constitution, which requires "appropriations made by law" prior to the expenditure of any money from the Treasury, and is generally recognized as one of the most powerful committees in the Senate. It was first organized on March 6, 1867, when power over appropriations was taken out of the hands of the Finance Committee. The current chairman of the committee is Ted Stevens, a Republican from Alaska, and the ranking minority member is Robert C. Byrd, a Democrat from West Virginia.
The chairman of the Appropriations Committee has enormous power to bring home special projects for his or her state. For instance, in fiscal year 2005 per capita federal spending in Alaska, the home state of Ted Stevens, is $12,000 a year, double the national average. Alaska alone in 2005 has 11,772 special earmarked projects for a combined cost of $15,780,623,000. That is about 4 percent of the overall spending in the $388 billion Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005 passed by Congress.
Members
The current members are as follows:
Subcommittees
It has the following subcommittees:
- U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture Rural Development, and Related Agencies
- U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary
- U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense
- U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on District of Columbia
- U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
- U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations
- U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security
- U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior
- U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education
- U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Legislative Branch
- U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction
- U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation/Treasury and General Government
- U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on VA/HUD-Independent Agencies
Chairmen of the Appropriations Committee, 1867-present
External link
See Also
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