The Upside of Pork, Besides the Tasty Flavor, Part I

What if you went down to your local Social Security Office and it was closed? To keep every federal agency door open, Congress must fund every single agency program, staff person, Internet connection, and stapler. This process is called the APPROPRIATIONS process. On the federal level, this process is run by the APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE. There are ten House Appropriation Subcommittees and twelve Senate Appropriation Subcommittees (don't worry, the difference is all worked out in Conference.....but more on that later.) Each Appropriation Subcommittee funds multiple agencies.

Here is an EXTREMELY simplified version of how our government funds itself:

Subcommittees in both the House and the Senate receive the President's proposed budget. They hear testimony from agency representatives (Presidential appointees, all) who talk about how great the President's budget is (they're no dummies.) The Subcommittee also hears testimony from folks who oppose the President's budget (they've got paychecks of their own to worry about.)

The Subcommittee makes changes to the President's budget, and then tells the federal agencies, "Okay. Here's the deal, we've decided that your agency will get $X billion dollars for the next fiscal year. Of that total $X billion, you're going to get $Y million for Program A and $Y million for Program B and...."

The Subcommittee's decisions are then sent to the entire Appropriations Committee, and it nods it's head wisely and says, "That works for us, let's see what the rest of the folks say." Then the Appropriations Committee sends the bill to the entire House of Representatives, and the Committee of the Whole (all the members of the House of Representatives) votes on the bill.

You think we're done, don't you? Not so fast. Remember: the process described above happens in both the House and the Senate. As a result, there are, at this point in the process, two versions of the same bill. Yes. Two versions of the same bill. What happens next is called 'Conference.'

Here's how Conference works: the most special three or four House Appropriations Subcommittee members and the three or four most special Senate Appropriations Subcommittee members get together in a room in the Capitol building (located in between the House Office Buildings and Senate Office Buildings) and compare their versions of the same bill. They go through each account, line by line, and say things like, "Excuse me, Senator Ed, but I really like that Parks program, because it builds swing sets for kids, so, can we give them $20 million instead of $10 million?" And on and on. The Conference Committee process takes place behind closed doors, and the decisions are essentially final, unless there is a Presidential veto.

Okay. That's how Congress funds itself. Next time, we'll talk about how Congress funds specific projects for their own districts. If you just can't wait to learn more, give us a call!