Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-04-10

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and goes to work like beaver to delve
| into the necessity of every item IN the
Treasury's estimates. For convenience
! sake in handling the drafts OF the
! various bills the committee IS dlVided
| into subcommittee, each of which
| handles one separate bill.
| $ q
| II should be remembered that all OF the
river and harbor appropriations and the
| public building
17ho+ porL porrel appropriations
| Measures Comprise. committee. al
| though it is not the pork barrel COM
| mittee, so called. Such committees, so
often the object of attack, are the commit
/ tee on rivers and harbors and the COM
mittee on public buildings and grounds
The pork barrel bills are the measures
| authorizing the several million dollars
worth of river improvement and erection
of all sorts of marble public structures in
large and small towns. However. so care
| full is Congress that tHe mere authorize
! ton of expense means nothing. 10 the
/ Treasury After building is authorized
the appropriations committee may pos
| siblv set aside 81, 900 for the first years
work. or for the plans. Then another
| year must go by before the next INSTALL
| ment will be paid out of the Treasury.
A bill to widen q river may be passed
and the total cost may amount to s2o,-
00O, 900 for dredging and blasting, but un-
til the appropriations committee reports
to the House an item carrying something
upon which the Treasury may pase war
rant and the House and Senate both pass
the item, no inroad for that particular
project can be made on the Treasury.
The appropriations committee is sup
posed to keep an eye on the treasury b2'-
ances daily and the other eve on the dc
sires and efforts of REPRESENTATIVES 10 pull
the governments leg in the interests OF
their own district. All sorts of influences
are brought to bear on the committee, and
the passage of an appropriation bill
through Congress is like that of a block
ade runner. Attempts to raise and re-
| duce items are made throughout the en-
| tire career of an appropriation bill and
frequently the most bitter fights result
from these attempts
Technically speaking. nothing but ap-
propriations are supposed to go in any
money bill, but
Aftarnnts Made IN as these meas
Tack on New Laws. ,eeed and bav.
the right Of way over all other pending
| amend them as to carry new laws on
various subjects. Practically all repre-
sentatives admit this is vicious practice.
sometimes resulting in ill-dgested legisla-
| ton, but nevertheless it is a part of the
system and ''it goes"
| Until 1865 the ways and means COM
mittee of the House included in its
| powers not only the function of raising
! mo of
year the first appropriation committee
was created. and the latter body framed
| and carried through all appropriations
| % the United States until 1888, when
the original pork barrel committee
| was created-the rivers and harbors
| body. Five years later the House took
away from the approximations com
! rnittee the military and naval bills, the
diplomatic appropriation bill and the
| Indian appropriation measure. Some
! times jealousy is ascribed as the cause
! OF this split-uD. and there is almost an
| annual atteUDt to return these various
! lost bill making functions TO the ap-
! propriations committee proper. The
! reason given Is that one committee can
! thus have co-ordinated spending pol
/ icy which can be transmitted to the
! House.
/ On the other hand. there is always a
demand for comnAttee chairmanships.
| which mean prestige and power for
! the congressman holding them and anv
( attempt to change the existing condi-
I tions meets with a loud and long wall
and much unpopularity for the member
; who suggests such a thing. There is
not the slightest doubt however In
the minds of many congressman that
the manner in which the appropria-
tions now are handled results in the
| lack of coordination and causes in
creased expenditures.
After the various appropriations ha. 9
been thoroughly sifted in committee
they are reported
| How House to the House, and
Takes Up Bills. s ast 0G nay,n ,mm oon
sideration, sitting as a committee of
the whole. where. item by item, the
measures are again gone over The
measures then are reported to the
House proper for such action as 1t may
see fit to take, but. inasmuch as II is
absolutely incumbent upon that body
to see fit to pass the appropriation
measures. this action. needless to state,
is taken. The measures then are pre-
pared for submission to the Senate and
the Senate committees handling yari-
Gus sections Of the national appropria-
lions get down to work.
The labor in this section of Congress
is not as ardous. however, as in the
! House where all appropriations are
whipped into their proper shape and
Ico-ordinated. With this work largely
done it remains only for the Senate
| committees to take up the various
items pertaining to all branches of the
government, see whether they are too
| small, too large, or whether all needed
appropriations are made. The work is
done chiefly by subcommittees and
their reports almost invariably are ac-
cepted by the full committee, which
after due consideration reports them
out to the Senate proper. Here amend
ments may be, and are, offered.
Appropriation measures as passed by
the House and as they, come out of the
Senate almost invariably show marked
variance. Through the years the Sem
ate has shown tendency to: be more
liberal in the expenditure of govern
ment moneys than has the House. AZ
ter the Senate has written its DEGREES