Thirteen subcommittees are tasked with drafting legislation to allocate funds to government agencies within their jurisdictions. These subcommittees are responsible for reviewing the President's budget request, hearing testimony from government officials, and drafting the spending plans for the coming fiscal year. Their work is passed on to the full Senate Appropriations Committee, which may review and modify the bills and forward them to the full Senate for consideration.

The Committee is also responsible for supplemental spending bills, which are sometimes needed in the middle of a fiscal year to compensate for emergency expenses.

THE BUDGET PROCESS:

I. Authorizations and Appropriations: What's the Difference?

Authorization laws have two basic purposes. They establish, continue, or modify federal programs, and they are a prerequisite under House and Senate rules (and sometimes under statute) for the Congress to appropriate budget authority for programs.

Some authorization laws provide spending directly. In fact, well over half of federal spending now goes to programs for which the authorizing legislation itself creates budget authority. Such spending is referred to as direct, or mandatory, spending. It includes funding for most major entitlement programs. (Some entitlements are funded in annual appropriation acts, but the amounts provided are controlled by the authorization law that established the entitlement.) The authorization laws that provide direct spending are typically permanent, but some major direct spending programs, such as the Food Stamp program, require periodic renewal.

Discretionary spending, which is provided in the 13 appropriation acts, now makes up only about one-third of all federal expenditures. For discretionary spending, the role of the authorizing committees is to enact legislation that serves as the basis for operating a program and that provides guidance to the Appropriations Committees as to an appropriate level of funding for the program. That guidance typically is expressed in terms of an authorization of appropriations. Such authorizations are provided either as specific dollar amounts (definite authorizations) or "such sums as are necessary" (indefinite authorizations).

In addition, authorizations may be permanent and remain in effect until changed by the Congress, or they may cover only specific fiscal years. Authorizations that are limited in duration may be annual (pertaining to one fiscal year) or multiyear (pertaining to two, five, or any number of specific fiscal years). When such an authorization expires, the Congress may choose to extend the life of a program by passing legislation commonly referred to as a reauthorization. Unless the underlying law expressly prohibits it, the Congress may also extend a program simply by providing new appropriations. Appropriations made available for a program after its authorization has expired are called "unauthorized appropriations."

Longstanding rules of the House allow a point of order to be raised against an appropriation that is unauthorized. During initial consideration of a bill in the House (which by precedent originates appropriation bills), unauthorized appropriations are sometimes dropped from the bill. However, the House Committee on Rules typically grants waivers for unauthorized appropriations that are contained in a conference agreement. In the Senate, there is a more limited prohibition against considering unauthorized appropriations.

Both House and Senate rules require that when the Committees on Appropriations report a bill, they list in their respective committee reports any programs funded in the bill that lack an authorization. The information in the committee reports, however, differs somewhat from the information shown in this report. This report covers programs that at one time had an explicit authorization that either has expired or will expire. Unlike the lists shown in the Appropriations Committee reports, this report does not include programs for which the Congress has never provided authorizations of appropriations. For example, some Treasury Department programs have never received explicit authorizations of appropriations. They receive appropriations nonetheless because the authority to obligate and spend funds is considered "organic"--inherent in the underlying legislation or executive action that originally empowered the Treasury to perform particular functions.

As mentioned above, many laws establish programs with authorizations of discretionary appropriations that do not expire. Both the Appropriations Committee reports and this CBO report exclude programs with that type of authorization because its effect is permanent."

II. Where Does the Money Go?

While the size of the annual federal budget has increased in dollar terms (reflecting inflation, increased population and economy) over the years, the proportion available for common government services has shrunk dramatically. Competition among federal agencies for funding is heating up. Over the last three decades, discretionary spending has been cut significantly to accomodate rapid growths in other expenses. Discretionary spending covers everything from road building to police protection to medical research to our national defense -- most of the government services with which Americans are familiar. All other spending is mandatory -- required by law regardless of what is left over for discretionary spending. Mandatory spending includes entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare, and the enormous interest the U.S. must pay every year to finance the national debt.

III. RULE XVI– Appropriations and Amemdments to General Appropriations Bills

1.On a point of order made by any Senator, no amendments shall be received to any general appropriation bill the effect of which will be to increase an appropriation already contained in the bill, or to add a new item of appropriation, unless it be made to carry out the provisions of some existing law, or treaty stipulation, or act or resolution previously passed by the Senate during that session; or unless the same be moved by direction of the Committee on Appropriations or of a committee of the Senate having legislative jurisdiction of the subject matter, or proposed in pursuance of an estimate submitted in accordance with law.

2. The Committee on Appropriations shall not report an appropriation bill containing amendments to such bill proposing new or general legislation or any restriction on the expenditure of the funds appropriated which proposes a limitation not authorized by law if such restriction is to take effect or cease to be effective upon the happening of a contingency, and if an appropriation bill is reported to the Senate containing amendments to such bill proposing new or general legislation or any such restriction, a point of order may be made against the bill, and if the point is sustained, the bill shall be recommitted to the Committee on Appropriations.

3. All amendments to general appropriation bills moved by direction of a committee having legislative jurisdiction of the subject matter proposing to increase an appropriation already contained in the bill, or to add new items of appropriation, shall, at least one day before they are considered, be referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and when actually proposed to the bill no amendment proposing to increase the amount stated in such amendment shall be received on a point of order made by any Senator.

4. On a point of order made by any Senator, no amendment offered by any other Senator which proposes general legislation shall be received to any general appropriation bill, nor shall any amendment not germane or relevant to the subject matter contained in the bill be received; nor shall any amendment to any item or clause of such bill be received which does not directly relate thereto; nor shall any restriction on the expenditure of the funds appropriated which proposes a limitation not authorized by law be received if such restriction is to take effect or cease to be effective upon the happening of a contingency; and all questions of relevancy of amendments under this rule, when raised, shall be submitted to the Senate and be decided without debate; and any such amendment or restriction to a general appropriation bill may be laid on the table without prejudice to the bill.

5. On a point of order made by any Senator, no amendment, the object of which is to provide for a private claim, shall be received to any general appropriation bill,unless it be to carry out the provisions of an existing law or a treaty stipulation, which shall be cited on the face of the amendment.

6. When a point of order is made against any restriction on the expenditure of funds appropriated in general appropriation bill on the ground that the restriction violates this rule, the rule shall be construed strictly and, in case Of doubt, in favor of the point of order.

7. Every report on general appropriation bills filed by the Committee on Appropriations shall identify with particularity each recommended amendment which proposes an item of appropriation which is not made to carry out the provisions of an existing law, a treaty stipulation, or an act or resolution previously passed by the Senate during that session.

8. On a point of order made by any Senator, no general appropriation bill or amendment thereto shall be received or considered if it contains a provision reappropriating unexpended balances of appropriations; except that this provision shall not apply to appropriations in continuation of appropriations for public works on which work has commenced.

SUBCOMMITTEES:

Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, and Related Agencies
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary
Subcommittee on Defense
Subcommittee on the District of Columbia
Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs
Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education
Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch
Subcommittee on Military Construction
Subcommittee on Transportation
Subcommittee on Treasury and General Government
Subcommittee on Veterans, Housing and Urban Development

MEMBERS:

Republicans:

Ted Stevens, Chairman, Alaska

Thad Cochran, Mississippi

Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania

Pete V. Domenici, New Mexico

Christopher S. Bond, Missouri

Mitch McConnell, Kentucky

Conrad Burns, Montana

Richard C. Shelby, Alabama

Judd Gregg, New Hampshire

Robert Bennett, Utah

Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Colorado

Larry Craig, Idaho

Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas

Mike Dewine, Ohio

Sam Brownback, Kansas

Democrats:

Robert Byrd, Ranking Member, West Virginia

Daniel K. Inouye, Hawaii

Ernest F. Hollings, South Carolina

Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont

Tom Harkin, Iowa

Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland

Harry Reid, Nevada

Herb Kohl, Wisconsin

Patty Murray, Washington

Byron Dorgan, North Dakota

Dianne Feinstein, California

Richard Durbin, Illinois

Tim Johnson, South Dakota

Mary Landrieu, Louisiana