Appropriation / Cardinals of Congress (CongressionalGlossary.com)

From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms

Appropriation / Cardinals of Congress

Appropriation: Provision of law that provides authority for federal agencies to obligate funds and to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. Appropriations for the federal government are provided both in annual appropriations acts and in permanent provisions of law. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization and then appropriation.

The House Appropriations Committee has twelve subcommittees, and the Senate Appropriations Committee has twelve subcommittees. The chairmen of these subcommittees are referred to as “Congressional Cardinals” or the “Cardinals of Congress” because they hold the purse strings for federal agencies, projects and programs.

The “Status of Appropriations Legislation” can be found on Congress.gov.
 
 

Also see

• Appropriation Act / Appropriation Bill
• Authorization
• Budget Authority
• § 7.80 Authorizations and Appropriations Processes, § 8.50 Congress and the Executive: Appropriations, § 8.160 Congress and Foreign Policy: Legislation, Appropriations, and Nominations, in Congressional Deskbook

More

• House Committee On Appropriations
• Senate Committee on Appropriations
• House of Representatives Committee On Appropriations – Wikipedia
• Senate Committee on Appropriations – Wikipedia
• House Rule XXI – Restrictions On Certain Bills
• Senate Rule XVI – Appropriations and Amendments to General Appropriations Bills
• “The Congressional Appropriations Process: An Introduction,” CRS Report R42388, November 30, 2016 (28-page PDF)
• “The Congressional Appropriations Process: An Introduction,” CRS Report 97-684, February 23, 2012 (30-page PDF)
• “Advance Appropriations, Forward Funding, and Advance Funding,” CRS Report RS20441, November 22, 2010 (6-page PDF)
• “Supplemental Appropriations,” CRS Report RL33134
• “The Appropriations Process and the Congressional Budget Act,” CRS Report 97-947
• “Appropriations Subcommittee Structure: History of Changes from 1920-2011,” CRS Report RL31572, February 5, 2013 (18-page PDF)
• “Examples of Legislative Provisions in Annual Appropriations Acts,” CRS Report RL30619
• “Cardinals to Boehner: Crack whip,” by Molly K. Hooper, The Hill, November 30, 2011
• “Frelinghuysen Names Appropriations ‘Cardinals’ for 115th Congress”
• “Budget Process and Enforcement,” Parliamentary Boot Camp (4-page PDF)

Courses

• Congressional Operations Briefing – Capitol Hill Workshop
• Congressional Dynamics and the Legislative Process
• Drafting Federal Legislation and Amendments
• Understanding Congressional Budgeting and Appropriations
• Advanced Legislative Procedure

Publications

Legislative Drafter’s Deskbook: A Practical Guide	Pocket Constitution	Citizen’s Handbook to Influencing Elected Officials: A Guide for Citizen Lobbyists and Grassroots Advocates	The Federal Budget Process
Too Weak to Govern: Majority Party Power and Appropriations in the US Senate	The Pig Book: How Government Wastes Your Money	The Cardinals of Capitol Hill: The Men and Women Who Control Government Spending	Senator Jeff Flake Presents Wastebook Porkemon Go

CongressionalGlossary.com, from TheCapitol.Net