{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://pingree.house.gov/media-center/blog-posts/why-congressional-appropriations-matter-maine", "Why Congressional Appropriations Matter for Maine", "2017-07-24", "2017", "2017-07", "Democrat", "House", "ME", "Chellie Pingree", "P000597", "pingree.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The following is a column distributed to Maine newspapers in July 2017.\nOne of the most important committees in Congress is also the least understood: Appropriations. And it\u2019s not surprising. From \u201c302(b) allocations\u201d to \u201cmanager\u2019s amendments,\u201d the workings of this committee are nearly indecipherable to anyone outside Washington.\nBut it\u2019s also true that the House Appropriations Committee\u2014which I have had the privilege of serving on since 2013\u2014is incredibly powerful. While Congress may create federal programs by authorizing or reauthorizing them, the appropriations committees in the House and Senate decide what gets funded and at what levels. In short, they hold Congress\u2019 \u201cpower of the purse.\u201d\u00a0\nWe\u2019re in the thick of the appropriations process right now. I thought this might be a good time to cut through the policy weeds to explain how the committee works and also give an update on what I\u2019m doing to advocate for programs that are important to Maine.\u00a0\nFirst, here\u2019s a bit of a primer. The House Appropriations Committee doesn\u2019t have authority over all federal spending, but quite a bit of it. A large amount of the federal budget is made up of \u201cmandatory\u201d spending\u2014like Social Security and Medicare\u2014that doesn\u2019t fall under the committee. But \u201cdiscretionary\u201d spending has to be approved by the committee in the form of annual appropriations bills.\u00a0\nThe committee writes those bills with the input of Congress\u2019 budget resolution\u2014which sets amounts for large categories of federal spending\u2014as well as the President\u2019s budget request. Twelve Appropriations subcommittees receive a certain amount of funding and have to decide how to divide that sum across the federal programs and agencies in their jurisdiction. I sit on two subcommittees. One oversees funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration; the other determines spending at the Department of Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, and some smaller agencies like the National Endowment for the Arts.\u00a0\nEach subcommittee writes its own appropriations bill. \u00a0This is where members can have a great deal of influence. I\u2019m in constant contact with Maine stakeholders to find out what federal spending programs are most important to our communities. I then work to get those priorities included in the bills so our state can access an adequate amount of resources.\u00a0\nThe committee can also use its spending authority to influence federal agencies in other ways. For instance, it can pass \u201criders\u201d that keep an agency from doing a particular action by withholding funding for it. Or the committee can include \u201creport language\u201d in their bills urging the agency to take a specific action.\u00a0\nAfter holding hearings where we can question the heads of federal agencies, each subcommittee debates, amends and votes on their appropriations bills\u2014a process called \u201cmarkup.\u201d Then, all those bills go through another markup by the full Appropriations Committee. \u00a0If it gets through the committee, it goes on to a vote by the full House.\u00a0\nThe idea is that the Senate will pass its own appropriations bills and that both bodies will eventually hold a conference committee to come to agreement on a unified version. Washington being Washington, though, this hasn\u2019t happened in quite a while. Instead, Congress has waited until its spending authority is about to expire, forcing us to pass shorter-term measures like continuing resolutions or a patchwork of bills called an \u201comnibus.\u201d \u00a0\nRight now, the full Appropriations Committee is debating and voting on the subcommittee-passed bills. I\u2019m glad to report that, on the whole, the Republicans in the majority have not accepted the extreme level of cuts proposed by President Trump.\u00a0\nStill, they are pushing many deep cuts that are harmful, shortsighted, and would not be good for Maine. Throughout the markup process, I\u2019ve focused my efforts on advocating for the programs that are most important for our state, either by supporting amendments to restore funding or offering my own.\u00a0\nAmong the programs I\u2019ve stood up to defend so far are Community Development Block Grants that our municipalities rely on for vital infrastructure improvements, TIGER Grants that have helped replace several Maine bridges, assistance to develop affordable housing, support for local manufacturing programs, and renewable energy grants for rural businesses. I have also spoken up against policy riders that would attack EPA ozone rules that protect public health and block ocean planning and coordination.\nLooks like it\u2019s time for me to get back to committee. We just finished one markup and I\u2019m headed to another. Appropriations may not be the easiest job in Congress to explain, but for all the ways it impacts Mainers, I\u2019m honored to do it.\u00a0\nCongresswoman Chellie Pingree represents Maine\u2019s 1st District in the U.S. House of Representatives. You can contact her office at (207) 774-5019 or www.pingree.house.gov/contact-chellie.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://pingree.house.gov/media-center/blog-posts/why-congressional-appropriations-matter-maine"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8192348759621382, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}