[Deschler's Precedents]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access]
[DOCID:52093c25_txt-2]
[Page 4977-4978]
CHAPTER 25
Appropriation Bills
A. INTRODUCTORY MATTERS; AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS
Sec. 1. Scope of Chapter
This chapter discusses consideration of appropriation bills on the
floor, beginning with procedures for reporting and calling up such
bills.<SUP>(1)</SUP> The requirement that appropriations contained in
general appropriation bills must have been previously authorized by law
is discussed in a general way; but detailed treatment of the
prohibition against unauthorized appropriations and legislation on
general appropriation bills is to be found in a separate
chapter.<SUP>(2)</SUP>
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1. For earlier treatment of the subject matter of this chapter, see 4
Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 3553-3700; 7 Cannon's Precedents
Sec. Sec. 1116-1331, 1571-1578.
2. Ch. 26, infra.
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Matters relating to the duties, prerogatives, and jurisdiction of
the Committee on Appropriations are discussed in the chapter on
committees of the House.<SUP>(3)</SUP> Dicussion of referral of bills
to committees is accordingly to be found in that chapter, although
additional related precedents may be found in the chapter on
introduction and reference of bills.<SUP>(4)</SUP> It may be noted for
present purposes that the Committee on Appropriations has jurisdiction
over all general appropriation bills.
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3. Ch. 17, supra. Similarly, this chapter does not treat in any detail
the various powers and prerogatives of the House, including any
constitutional restrictions affecting appropriations for
particular purposes, such as the constitutional stricture (see
art. I Sec. 8 clause 12) that no appropriation of money ``to
raise and support armies'' shall be for a longer term than two
years. Matters relating to the powers and prerogatives of the
House, generally, including House authority with respect to
revenue and appropriation measures, are treated in Ch. 13,
supra.
4. Ch. 16, supra.
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Similarly, issues related to committee hearings and various
oversight functions of the Committee on Appropriations are to some
extent covered in the chapter on committees; procedures and issues that
have developed too recently for inclusion in this edition will be taken
up in supplements to this edition as they appear. Accordingly, the
general oversight re
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sponsibilities of the committee with respect to conducting studies and
examinations of the organization and operation of executive departments
and agencies are not discussed at length here. Moreover, the hearings
on the budget as a whole which are conducted by the committee in open
session within 30 days of submission of the budget are not covered in
any detail in this chapter.
In particular, procedures under the Congressional Budget Act of
1974, and the impact of such act on the congressional budget process
and on the role of the Committee on Appropriations, are necessarily
given only limited treatment in this edition. A summary of the act's
major provisions can be found in the chapter on the powers and
prerogatives of the House.<SUP>(5)</SUP>
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5. Ch. 13, supra. See House Rules and Manual Sec. Sec. 1007-11 (1981)
for provisions from the Congressional Budget Act.
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At this point, it is clear that the impact of the Congressional
Budget Act on the appropriations process and on the responsibilities of
the Committee on Appropriations will be considerable. For example, the
committee is given certain responsibilities with respect to rescissions
of appropriations, transfers of unexpended balances, and the amount of
new spending authority to be effective for a fiscal year. Its
responsibilities extend to measures reported by other committees which
exceed the appropriate allocation of new budget authority contained in
the latest concurrent resolution on the budget for the fiscal year (the
resolution setting forth, among other things, appropriate levels of
budget outlays and of total new budget authority).
New provisions also require the Committee on Appropriations (to the
extent practicable), before reporting the first regular appropriation
bill for the fiscal year, to complete subcommittee markup and full
committee action on all regular appropriation bills for that year, and
to submit to the House a summary report comparing the committee's
recommendations with provisions of the latest concurrent resolution on
the budget.<SUP>(6)</SUP>
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6. For further discussion of the above provisions, see materials
contained in the latest edition of the House Rules and Manual,
and supplements to this edition of Deschler's Precedents. See
also the summary of Budget Act provisions in Ch. 13, supra.
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