Appropriations Subcommittee Structure: History of Changes from 1920-2007







Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress



This report details the evolution of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees’
subcommittee structure from the 1920s to the present. In 1920, the House adopted a change in its
rules to consolidate jurisdiction over all appropriations in the Appropriations Committee. After
the enactment of the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, the House reorganized its
Appropriations Committee by establishing for the first time a set of subcommittees to consider
appropriations bills based on the administrative organization of the executive branch. The Senate
followed suit in 1922, and the two chambers have continued under that basic organizational
approach since that time.
The evolution of the modern Appropriations subcommittee structure can be divided into four eras.
The first era, stretching roughly from the initial reorganization in the 1920s until the end of the
Second World War, was marked by stability. Most of the changes in Appropriations structure
resulted from combining bills (e.g., the Treasury Department bill with the Post Office Department
bill beginning in 1924), although one new bill (and subcommittee) was created when the
appropriations bill for the Department of Labor was split off from the Departments of State,
Justice, Commerce, and Labor bill in 1939.
The second era, from the end of the Second World War through 1970, saw multiple changes.
During this period, Congress attempted to keep pace with executive branch reorganization (e.g.,
creation of subcommittees to consider appropriations for the new Departments of Defense in
1947 and Transportation in 1967), and changing national priorities (e.g., creation of a separate
appropriations bill, and later subcommittee, for foreign operations).
The third era, from 1971 through 2003, was marked by a renewed stability. Although this era saw
many changes in the overall committee structures of the House and Senate, the structure of the
Appropriations subcommittees in both chambers remained mostly unchanged until 2003. Since
2003, there have been major changes in organization involving nearly every subcommittee. In
2003, both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees merged their subcommittees on
Transportation and Treasury and created a new subcommittee to consider appropriations for the
newly created Department of Homeland Security. In 2005, both chambers undertook major
reorganizations, eliminating three subcommittees in the House and one in the Senate. This
reorganization, however, left the two chambers with differing subcommittee jurisdictions, and in

2007 the two Appropriations Committees reorganized again to reestablish parallel subcommittees.


This report will be updated to reflect any changes in Appropriations subcommittee structure.






Introduc tion ..................................................................................................................................... 1
Consolidation and Initial Stability, 1920-1946................................................................................1
Reorganization and Multiple Changes, 1947-1970.........................................................................4
Subcommittee Development.....................................................................................................5
Government Corporations...................................................................................................5
Public Works.......................................................................................................................5
Defici encies ........................................................................................................................ 6
Department of Defense.......................................................................................................6
Military Construction..........................................................................................................6
Legislative Branch..............................................................................................................7
Foreign Operations..............................................................................................................7
Commerce ....................................................................................................................... .... 7
General Government...........................................................................................................7
Tr ansportation ..................................................................................................................... 7
Renewed Stability, 1971-2002.........................................................................................................8
Major Changes, 2003, 2005, and 2007............................................................................................8
Author Contact Information..........................................................................................................12






Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution provides that “No money shall be drawn from the
Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” The Constitution does not,
however, prescribe any specific structure or process for making appropriations. The committee
structure established by Congress assigns a prominent role to the Appropriations Committees of
the House and Senate for both the development of appropriations legislation and oversight over
budget execution. The Appropriations Committees, in turn, have created a system of
subcommittees designed to facilitate their ability to carry out these tasks. The number and
jurisdictions of these subcommittees has evolved to meet changing needs and circumstances.
For example, reorganization has been undertaken in order to adjust to a new executive branch
department. Although reorganization of subcommittee jurisdiction in the House and Senate
Appropriations Committees was not formally part of the legislation creating a new Department of 1
Homeland Security (DHS), it was frequently discussed as a possible adjunct reform. Under such
a proposal, the subcommittee structure of the Appropriations Committees in both the House and
Senate was to be reorganized so that appropriations for the various agencies proposed to be 2
consolidated into a new DHS could likewise be consolidated. After the legislation establishing
the new department was signed into law, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee 3
announced that a new subcommittee would indeed be established in the House. This
modification of subcommittee structure affected eight of the existing subcommittees and was one
of the most extensive reorganizations of the Appropriations Committees since the 1920s. Shortly
thereafter, a similar change was made in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Reorganization can also be undertaken in order to adapt to changes in congressional priorities. At th
the start of the 109 Congress, the House and Senate undertook a second major change in
subcommittee structure. This reorganization affected 10 subcommittees in the House, eliminating
three, and eight subcommittees in the Senate, eliminating one.

By the end of the First World War the idea that the budgetary process should be more centralized
gained prominence, and ultimately resulted in passage of the Budget and Accounting Act of 4
1921. In anticipation of the more centralized executive budget system provided under the act, the
House also changed its rules to require that all appropriations be considered by the Appropriations 5th
Committee. During the late 19 century, congressional rules had provided that jurisdiction over

1 For example, the concept was endorsed by The Brookings Institution, which stated that subcommittee reorganization
would “institutionalize a broad perspective on homeland security.” Ivo H. Daalder et al., Assessing the Department of
Homeland Security (Washington: The Brookings Institution, 2002), p. 51.
2 Although there is no formal requirement that the House and Senate maintain parallel appropriations structures, the
two chambers have historically found it practical to do so.
3 SeeChairman Young Announces Homeland Security Reorganization, Jan. 29, 2003, available at
http://www.house.gov/appropriations/news/108_1/04homelandreorg.htm.
4 P.L. 13, 67th Congress, 42 Stat. 20-27.
5 H.Res. 324, 66th Congress. For its consideration by the House see “Change in the Rules of the House,Congressional
Record, vol. 59, June 1, 1920, pp. 8102-8121.





certain general appropriations bills to committees other than the House and Senate Appropriations 6
Committees. Notably, the appropriations bills for the District of Columbia, Indian affairs,
Agriculture Department, Army, Navy, Post Office Department, and rivers and harbors (i.e., public
works) were considered by the appropriate legislative committees.
In addition, the Bureau of the Budget, newly established under the Budget and Accounting Act,
recommended that appropriations bills be reorganized along administrative lines, with
appropriations for salaries and expenses being carried in the same bill as funding for programs
and activities administered by a department. This arrangement had previously existed only in the
Department of Agriculture appropriations bill. The House Appropriations Committee adopted the
bureau’s concept and reorganized the structure of general appropriations bills and its
subcommittees so extensively that only the structure of the Agriculture bill remained essentially
unchanged.
Prior to this reorganization, appropriations bills (and subcommittees) tended to be organized
along topical lines. For example, the military activities of the War Department were considered in
appropriations bills reported by the Military Affairs Committee, and the activities of the Corps of
Engineers were considered in River and Harbor appropriations bills reported by the Commerce
Committee. The salaries and contingent expenses for the civilian administration of the
department, however, were carried in the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial bill, which was
within the jurisdiction of the Appropriations Committee. A similar division existed for most
departments, and was true even for agencies whose appropriations were wholly within the
jurisdiction of the Appropriations Committee. Funding for the activities of agencies as disparate
as the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Coast Guard, and the Bureau of Mines were carried
in the Sundry Civil bill, which was frequently the largest of the general appropriations bills.
Nevertheless, their salaries and expenses were generally funded in the Legislative, Executive, and
Judicial bill.
After its reorganization, the House Appropriations Committee comprised the following
subcommittees:
1. Agriculture Department
2. Commerce and Labor Departments

3. Deficiencies7


4. District of Columbia

5. Independent Offices (including the Executive Office of the President)



6 For more on the appropriations process in this era, see Charles H. Stewart, Budget Reform Politics: The Design of the
Appropriations Process in the House of Representatives, 1865-1921 (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1989).
7 Unlike the other subcommittees, the Deficiencies Subcommittee’s jurisdiction remained essentially topical. Rather
than provide funding for an established group of agencies and programs in a single annual bill, its jurisdiction
frequently involved multiple bills. These bills provided supplemental appropriations for various unanticipated needs of
programs otherwise funded in regular appropriations. However, the Subcommittee was also responsible for funding
additional items not already provided in regular appropriations bills, and financed obligations already entered into in
advance of appropriations authority (such as the Lend-Lease program during World War II).





6. Interior Department
7. Legislative Establishment
8. Navy Department and the Navy
9. Post Office Department

10. State and Justice Departments (including the judiciary)


11. Treasury Department

12. War Department and the Army (both military and civil functions8)


By longstanding custom, the House originates all general appropriations bills.9 As a consequence,
it is the House that generally decides the content of the bills. By originating appropriations bills
corresponding to its new administratively based organizational structure, the House created a
jurisdictional problem for the Senate, which retained a system based on topical organization of
appropriations bills as well as multiple committees sharing jurisdiction over general
appropriations bills. Confronted with the difficulty of considering the reorganized appropriations
bills with its now outmoded system, the Senate reorganized its appropriations jurisdiction and 10
subcommittees in 1922.
Information available on congressional subcommittees, including those of the Appropriations
Committees, is sparse and unsystematic prior to enactment of the Legislative Reorganization Act 11
of 1946. From available hearings and other committee documents, it appears that during this era
the Appropriations Committees continued the practice of having each subcommittee (other than
the Deficiencies Subcommittee) be responsible for drafting one of the regular appropriations 12
bills. Data on appropriations bills may also generally be used to identify subcommittee
structure.
One conclusion that may be drawn from the appropriations bills considered in this period is that
the subcommittee structure of the Appropriations Committees was relatively stable. Other than
name changes, the salient changes in appropriations bill structure (and, presumably,
subcommittee structure as well) between 1922 and 1946 seem to have been limited to the
following:

8 Civil functions consisted largely of the work of the Army Corps of Engineers, such as river and harbor projects, flood
control, and maintenance of the Panama Canal.
9 For more on the origination of general appropriations bills, see CRS Report RL31399, The Origination Clause of the
U.S. Constitution: Interpretation and Enforcement, by James V. Saturno.
10 S.Res. 213, 67th Congress. For its consideration by the Senate, seeConsideration of Appropriations Bills,”
Congressional Record, vol. 62, Mar. 1-Mar. 4, Mar. 6, 1922, pp. 3199-3207, 3279-3291, 3331-3344, 3375-3392, 3400,
3418-3432.
11 P.L. 601, 79th Congress, 60 Stat. 812-852.
12 In addition, there appear to have been occasional subcommittees established for special purposes, such as a House
Appropriations Subcommittee on Permanent Appropriations (73rd Congress), which was responsible for recommending
the repeal of various permanent appropriations.





• combination of the bills for the Treasury and Post Office Departments beginning th13
in the 68 Congress (1924);
• combination of the Commerce and Labor Departments bill with the State and th14
Justice Departments bill beginning in the 68 Congress (1924);
• separation of the War Department and Army bill into two bills, one for the
Military Establishment and the other for War Department Civil Functions, th15
beginning in the 75 Congress (1937);
• separation of the Labor Department (and the Federal Security Agency16) from the th
Departments of State, Justice, Commerce, and Labor bill beginning in the 76 17
Congress (1939);
• inclusion of the Judiciary in the Legislative Branch bill during the 78th Congress
(1943-1944).

One of the chief aims of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 was to bring about a
modernization of Congress’s committee system, including its subcommittees. As a result, unlike
the earlier period, information on subcommittee structure since 1946 is more readily available. In th
the 80 Congress (1947-1948), the Appropriations Committees in both chambers had the
following structure:
1. Agriculture
2. Deficiencies
3. District of Columbia
4. Government Corporations
5. Independent Offices

13 In the 68th Congress, the Senate subcommittee maintained subunits for separate consideration of Treasury and Post
Office items respectively, although a single bill was considered.
14 In the 68th Congress, the Senate subcommittee maintained subunits for separate consideration of State and Justice
and Commerce and Labor items respectively, although a single bill was considered.
15 However, from available congressional documents it does not appear that this division was reflected in a similar
change in the subcommittee structure. During the debate on the civil functions bill, Rep. J. Buell Snyder simply
remarked that Rep. James P. Buchanan, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, had directed that the estimates
for the War Department be handled in two separate measures (Congressional Record, vol. 81, June 15, 1937, p. 5733). th
In the 80 Congress (for which there is reliable information on Appropriations subcommittee structure), there was a
single subcommittee and separate military establishment and civil function bills.
16 The Federal Security Agency was established by Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1939, grouping the Office of
Education, Public Health Service, Social Security Board, U.S. Employment Service, Civilian Conservation Corps, and
National Youth Administration. The agency was abolished by Reorganization Plan No. 7 of 1953, and its functions
transferred to the newly created Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
17 This change in bill structure, however, reflected a change in the subcommittee structure of the House only. The
Senate maintained a single subcommittee for consideration of separate appropriations bills for the Departments of th
State, Justice, and Commerce and Department of Labor-Federal Security Agency until the 80 Congress (1947).





6. Interior Department
7. Legislative
8. State, Justice, and Commerce Departments and the Judiciary
9. Treasury Department and Post Office
10. Labor Department and Federal Security Agency
11. War Department
12. Navy Department
The idea of modernizing congressional committee structure and operations embodied in the
Legislative Reorganization Act was paralleled by an interest in developing a more modern federal
administrative apparatus to supplant the one that had grown in fits and starts to meet the
challenges of the Depression and World War II. Because appropriations bills continued to be
written along organizational lines, these changes in the executive branch had an impact on
appropriations subcommittee structure. Four changes in party control in the House between 1947
and 1955 also contributed to an environment well disposed to multiple changes in appropriations
subcommittee jurisdiction. This evolution saw the number of subcommittees fluctuate between a 1819
low of 10 and a high of 15. Despite this fluctuation, during this era it appears that the
Appropriations Committees generally continued the practice of having each subcommittee be 20
responsible for drafting one of the regular appropriations bills.
Appropriations Subcommittees that were created, abolished, or reorganized from the 80th
Congress until 1970 are as follows:
A subcommittee (and appropriations bill) specifically pertaining to government corporations th
operated in both the House and Senate only during the 80 Congress (1947-1948).
Jurisdiction over Army civil functions was transferred to the Deficiencies Subcommittees in both st
the House and Senate for the 81 Congress (1949-1950). The Senate subsequently transferred
jurisdiction over deficiencies to the full committee, and a separate subcommittee for Army civil

18 In House during the 81st and 82nd Congresses (1949-1952), and in the Senate during the 81st through 83rd Congresses
(1949-1942).
19 In House during the 86th and 87th Congresses (1959-1962).
20 There were exceptions to this, for example, in cases when the Senate committee did not immediately alter its
appropriations subcommittee structure to mirror that of the House. In addition, in 1950, a single omnibus
appropriations bill was considered comprising titles recommended by the subcommittees.





functions was established, in the 82nd Congress and continuing through the 83rd (1951-1954). The nd
House continued to operate a Deficiencies and Army Civil Functions Subcommittee in the 82
Congress (1951-1952), but transferred jurisdiction over deficiencies to the full committee, and rd
created a subcommittee combining Army civil functions with military construction in the 83
Congress (1953-1954). A Public Works Subcommittee (including the Army civil functions as well
as the Atomic Energy Commission, Bureau of Reclamation, and power marketing
administrations) was established by both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees th
beginning in the 84 Congress (1955). The Senate maintained separate subunits within the Public
Works Subcommittee to consider matters related to the Atomic Energy Commission and
Tennessee Valley Authority and related to the Bureau of Reclamation and Department of the thth
Interior power marketing associations. These subunits operated between the 84 and 90
Congresses (1955-1968). A single bill continued to be reported from the subcommittee during this
period.
A separate subcommittee to consider deficiencies was discontinued in the Senate after the 81st nd
Congress, and in the House after the 82 Congress. Jurisdiction over deficiencies and
supplementals was subsequently exercised by the full committee. A Deficiencies Subcommittee thth
was reestablished by the House Appropriations Committee for the 86 through 88 Congresses
(1959-1964), after which the jurisdiction was again exercised by the full committee. The Senate th
Subcommittee on Deficiencies was reestablished for the second session of the 87 Congress, and st
met through the 91 Congress (1962-1970).
The War and Navy Departments were consolidated to create a National Military Establishment 21
(later the Department of Defense) in 1947, and their respective appropriations subcommittees st
were combined to create an Armed Services Subcommittee beginning in the 81 Congress (1949). th
Renamed the Department of Defense Subcommittee in the 84 Congress (1955), the House
Subcommittee maintained three separate subunits for consideration of Army, Navy, and Air Force thth
matters during the 84 and 85 Congresses (1955-1959), and the Senate maintained a separate stth
subunit for intelligence activities between the 91 and 94 Congresses (1969-1976). During these
years, there continued to be a single Department of Defense appropriations bill.
Military construction was considered as a part of the Defense Appropriations bill prior to the 83rd rdth
Congress. Between the 83 Congress and the first session of the 85 Congress (1953-1957),
appropriations for military construction were carried primarily in deficiency and supplemental rd
appropriations measures. In the 83 Congress (1953-1954), the House operated a Civil Functions
and Military Construction Subcommittee, but it is otherwise not clear whether military
construction matters were considered by a subcommittee in this period. A separate Military
Construction Subcommittee was created by the House Appropriations Committee beginning in th
the second session of the 85 Congress (1958), and a separate bill for military construction
matters was considered for the first time that same year. The Senate Appropriations Committee

21 P.L. 253, 80th Congress, 61 Stat. 495-510.





established a separate subunit for military construction within the Defense Subcommittee in the thth
86 Congress (1959-1960), and then a separate subcommittee beginning in the 87 Congress
(1961).
The House and Senate Appropriations Committees established a subcommittee to consider both rd
legislative and judiciary matters in the 83 Congress (1953-1954). The two chambers
subsequently returned to the former practice of a separate Legislative Subcommittee, with
judiciary matters being considered by the same subcommittee as the Departments of State, th
Justice, and Commerce, beginning in the 84 Congress (1955).
A separate bill to fund foreign aid programs (then called the Mutual Security bill) was considered rd
beginning in the 83 Congress (1953), with jurisdiction exercised by the full committee in both
the House and Senate. A separate subcommittee was established by the House Appropriations th
Committee beginning in the 84 Congress (1955). Foreign operations jurisdiction continued to be st
exercised at the full committee level by the Senate Appropriations Committee until the 91
Congress (1969).
Jurisdiction over Commerce Department appropriations was exercised by a separate thth
subcommittee in the 84 through 86 Congresses (1955-1960). The subcommittee’s jurisdiction th
was combined with the General Government Subcommittee for the first session of the 87 th
Congress (1961). Since the second session of the 87 Congress (1962), jurisdiction has been
exercised by a subcommittee with jurisdiction over the State, Justice, and Commerce
Departments and the judiciary.
In the House, a separate subcommittee was established for general government matters (including thth
the Executive Office of the President) in the 84 through 86 Congress (1955-1960). In the
Senate, jurisdiction over general government matters was exercised by a Subcommittee on th
Independent Offices and General Government Matters beginning in the 84 Congress, although
separate appropriations bills for independent offices and general government matters were
considered. In both the House and Senate jurisdiction over general government matters was th
combined with the Commerce Department Subcommittee in the first session of the 87 Congress
(1961). Jurisdiction over general government matters was subsequently combined with the
Treasury Department and Post Office Subcommittee in both chambers beginning in the second th
session of the 87 Congress (1962).
A separate subcommittee was established to consider appropriations for the newly created
Transportation Department by both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees beginning th
in the 90 Congress (1967).






With the creation of the Transportation Subcommittee by the House Appropriations Committee in
1967, the total number of appropriations subcommittees in the House stabilized at 13. The last
subcommittee added in the Senate was the Foreign Operations Subcommittee in 1969, bringing
the total in that body to 14. Since the elimination of a separate Senate Subcommittee on st
Deficiencies at the end of the 91 Congress (1969-1970), the two chambers have maintained
parallel appropriations subcommittee structures.
There were no additions, and few major changes, in the subcommittee structure of either the
House or Senate Appropriations Committees between 1971 and 2003. The changes that did occur
involved primarily changes in subcommittee names to reflect changes in agency and departmental
status. For example, the title of the Independent Offices bill has evolved with the creation of the
Departments of Housing and Urban Development in 1965, and Veterans’ Affairs in 1988; the
Public Works bill became known as the Energy and Water bill after the creation of the
Department of Energy in 1977; and the title of the Departments of Labor and Health Education
and Welfare was modified to reflect the creation of a separate Department of Education in 1979.
However, these changes did not represent major shifts in appropriations subcommittee
jurisdictions.

In response to the establishment of a Department of Homeland Security, in January 2003, the
chairman of the House Appropriations Committee announced that a new appropriations
subcommittee would be created. This new subcommittee, consolidating appropriations
jurisdiction from eight existing subcommittees over the various entities comprising the new
department, was the first major reorganization of appropriations subcommittee structure in either
chamber in over 30 years. The new subcommittee was formally established when the committee th
organized for the 108 Congress in February 2003. In order to keep the number of appropriations
subcommittees at 13, the committee also merged the subcommittees responsible for Department
of Transportation appropriations with that responsible for Treasury, Postal Service, and General
Government appropriations. The Senate Appropriations Committee made a similar change when
it organized in March 2003.
At the beginning of the 109th Congress, the House Appropriations Committee undertook another
substantial reorganization, reducing the number of subcommittees from 13 to 10. This reduction
was achieved by eliminating the Subcommittees on the Legislative Branch, District of Columbia,
and the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and Independent
Agencies. The jurisdiction over the Legislative Branch appropriations bill was retained by the full
committee, and the following major changes were made in subcommittee organization:
• creation of a new subcommittee on Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs,
combining the previous jurisdiction of the Military Construction subcommittee
with jurisdiction over the Department of Veterans Affairs as well as those
portions of the Department of Defense concerning the Defense Health Program
and military facilities sustainment and housing accounts;





• jurisdiction over the Department Housing and Urban Development, the federal
judiciary, and the District of Columbia transferred to the former Transportation,
and Treasury Subcommittee;
• jurisdiction over the federal judiciary transferred from the former Subcommittee
on the Departments of Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary, while that
subcommittee would gain jurisdiction over NASA, the National Science
Foundation, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (all formerly
exercised by the VA-HUD subcommittee) becoming the Subcommittee on
Science, State, Justice and Commerce;
• jurisdiction over other agencies formerly exercised by the VA-HUD
Subcommittee shifted to the Interior Subcommittee (the Environmental
Protection Agency) and Labor-HHS Subcommittee (AmeriCorps);
• jurisdiction over Weatherization Assistance Grants exercised by the Labor-HHS
Subcommittee, and energy related accounts exercised by the Interior
Subcommittee transferred to the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee.
This reorganization left the House with the following subcommittees:
1. Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related
Agencies;

2. Subcommittee on Defense;


3. Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies;


4. Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs;


5. Subcommittee on Homeland Security;


6. Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies;


7. Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies;


8. Subcommittee on Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies;


9. Subcommittee on Science, State, Justice and Commerce, and Related Agencies;


10. Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development, the
Judiciary, District of Columbia.
The Senate Appropriations Committee subsequently adopted a reorganization plan as well,
eliminating the Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and
Independent Agencies and making the following major changes:
• jurisdiction over Veterans Affairs transferred to the Subcommittee on Military
Construction;
• jurisdiction over the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the
federal judiciary transferred to the former Subcommittee on Transportation,
Treasury and General Government;





• jurisdiction over NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of
Science and Technology Policy transferred to the former Subcommittee on
Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary;
• jurisdiction over AmeriCorps transferred to the Subcommittee on Labor, Health
and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies;
• jurisdiction over the Environmental Protection Agency transferred to the
Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies;
• jurisdiction over energy related accounts formerly exercised by the Interior
Subcommittee transferred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Water
Development;
• jurisdiction over the State Department transferred to the former Subcommittee on
Foreign Operations.
This reorganization left the Senate with the following subcommittees:

1. Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, and Related Agencies;


2. Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science;


3. Subcommittee on Defense;


4. Subcommittee on the District of Columbia;


5. Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development;


6. Subcommittee on Homeland Security;


7. Subcommittee on Interior, and Related Agencies;


8. Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies;


9. Subcommittee on Legislative Branch;


10. Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs;


11. Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, and Related Programs;


12. Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, The Judiciary, and Housing and Urban
Development.
In 2007, the incoming chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees announced th
that parallel subcommittee jurisdiction would be reestablished at the beginning of the 110
Congress. Among the changes was to divide the jurisdiction of the subcommittees that had
previously included the Departments of Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Affairs
to create subcommittees in both chambers on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development,
and related agencies and on Financial Services and General Government (including the Treasury
Department, the Judiciary, the Executive Office of the President, the Office of Personnel
Management, the Postal Service, the District of Columbia, and other related agencies, such as the
Federal Elections Commission, Federal Trade Commission, Securities and Exchange





Commission, and Small Business Administration); transferring jurisdiction over Defense health
programs and military facilities sustainment and housing accounts from the House Military
Quality of Life subcommittee to the Defense subcommittee; and transferring jurisdiction over the
State Department from the House Science, State, Justice and Commerce, and Related Agencies
subcommittee to the Foreign Operations subcommittee. In addition, the House reestablished a
subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Legislative Branch, and the Senate eliminated a separate
subcommittee on the District of Columbia. The reorganization left the two chambers with the 22
following 12 subcommittees:
1. Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related
Agencies;

2. Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies;


3. Subcommittee on Defense;


4. Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies;


5. Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government;


6. Subcommittee on the Department of Homeland Security;


7. Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies;


8. Subcommittee on the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and
Related Agencies;

9. Subcommittee on Legislative Branch;


10. Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies;


11. Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs;


12. Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Related
Agencies.
In addition, based on the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, Representative David Obey,
Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, introduced H.Res. 35 at the beginning of the th

110 Congress to create a select oversight panel to oversee spending on federal intelligence 23


activities. The resolution was adopted by the House on January 9, 2007, by a vote of 239-188.
The panel does not have any spending jurisdiction, but was established to
review and study on a continuing basis budget requests for and execution of intelligence
activities; make recommendations to relevant subcommittees of the Committee on
Appropriations; and, on an annual basis, prepare a report to the Defense Subcommittee of the
Committee on Appropriations containing budgetary and oversight observations and

22 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee Jurisdiction, committee print, 110th Cong., 1st
sess. (Washington: GPO, 2007).
23Select Intelligence Oversight Panel,” Congressional Record, daily edition, vol. 153, Jan. 9, 2007, pp. H199-209.





recommendations for use by such subcommittee in preparation of the classified annex to the bill
making appropriations for the Department of Defense.
In addition to members from the Appropriations Committee, the panel is composed of 13
members, including the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on
Appropriations, the chairman and ranking minority member of the Subcommittee on Defense, six
additional members of the Committee on Appropriations, and three members of the Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence.
James V. Saturno
Specialist on the Congress and Legislative Process
jsaturno@crs.loc.gov, 7-2381