Senate Appropriations Committee

In parallel with a mirror-image committee in the House, the Senate Appropriations Committee is responsible for assembling the annual legislation that funds most federal departments and agencies. It has 12 subcommittees that correspond to the 12 spending bills into which the legislation is organized. The leaders of the Appropriations Committee are the chief negotiators on matters such as allocating overall budget levels among the 12 spending bills and reconciling the House and Senate spending proposals. They also have considerable influence over funding for programs in which they have a particular interest.

The subcommittees listed below are responsible for developing spending proposals covering almost all federal activities in the physical sciences:

• The Commerce-Justice-Science Subcommittee’s jurisdiction includes NASA, the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
• The Energy-Water Subcommittee’s jurisdiction encompasses the Department of Energy, including the National Nuclear Security Administration.
• The Defense Subcommittee is responsible for the Defense Department’s budget, including its research, development, test, and evaluation portfolio.
• The Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee’s jurisdiction includes the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Education.
• The Interior-Environment Subcommittee’s jurisdiction includes the U.S. Geological Survey and the Environmental Protection Agency.