IOP 2017 Fall Residential Fellow Mark Strand

Special Guest: Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Republican Conference Chair

Thursday October 19; 4:15-5:45 p.m. in IOP L166

In the authorization process, committees draft bills establishing, revising or eliminating policies and also recommend a certain level of funding for these government activities. Only then is the Appropriations Committees supposed to appropriate the money to pay for what is authorized. Authorization committees are important because this is where real oversight occurs. It mkes the Executive agencies accountable to Congress, and it makes Members of Congress accountable to the public.  It is against the standing Rules of the House to appropriate money for an unauthorized agency or program. Unfortunately, the House Rules Committee frequently waives this rule. As a result, the Congress appropriates $310 billion – or nearly one-third of the discretionary Federal budget to unauthorized programs.  The Department of Homeland Security has not been reauthorized since its creation!