United States House Committee on
Appropriations
The Committee on Appropriations
is a
committee of the United States House of Re-
presentatives. It is in charge of setting the
specific expenditures of money by the gov-
ernment of the United States. As such, it is
one of the most powerful of the committees,
and its members are seen as influential.
History
The constitutional basis for the Appropri-
ations Committee comes from Article one,
Section nine, Clause seven of the U.S. Consti-
tution, which states that:
No money shall be drawn from the
treasury, but in consequence of
appropriations made by law; and a
regular statement and account of
receipts and expenditures of all public
money shall be published from time to
time.
This clearly delegated the power of appropri-
ating money to Congress, but was vague bey-
ond that. Originally, the power of appropriat-
ing was taken by the Committee on Ways and
Means, but the United States Civil War
placed a large burden on the Congress, and
at the end of that conflict, a reorganization
occurred.
The Committee was created on December
11, 1865, when the House separated the
tasks of the Committee on Ways and Means
into three parts. The passage of legislation
affecting taxes remained with Ways and
Means. The power to regulate banking was
transferred to the Committee on Banking and
Commerce. The power to appropriate money-
-to control the federal pursestrings--was giv-
en
to
the newly-created Appropriations
Committee.
At the time the membership of the com-
mittee stood at nine; it currently has 60
members. The power of the committee has
only grown since its founding; many of its
members and chairmen have gone on to even
higher posts. For example, four of them-
-Samuel Randall
(D-PA),
Joseph Cannon
(R-IL), Joseph Byrns (D-TN) and Nancy Pelosi
(D-CA)--have gone on to become the Speaker
of the House, and one, James Garfield, has
gone on to become President.
The root of the Committee’s power is its
ability to disburse funds, and thus as the fed-
eral budget has risen, so has the power