[Cannon's Precedents, Volume 7]
[Chapter 220 - General Appropriation Bills]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
GENERAL APPROPRIATION BILLS
Chapter CCXX.\1\
GENERAL APPROPRIATION BILLS.\1\
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Enumeration of. Sections 1116, 1117.
2. General appropriations and deficiencies. Sections 1118-1121.
3. As to what are general appropriation bills. Section 1122.
4. Estimates from executive departments. Sections 1123, 1124.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1116. Enumeration of the General Appropriation Bills.
The general appropriation bills are not enumerated or defined by the
rules. The Committee on Appropriations, having sole jurisdiction of
appropriations for support of the Government, may report for that
purpose such general appropriation bills as, in its judgment, best
expedite the work of the committee and the House.
Formerly eight separate committees were authorized to report
appropriations and the practice had become established of providing for
support of the Government through 13 \2\ annual general appropriation
bills and a varying number of deficiency appropriation bills reported
from the eight committees.
But with the introduction of the budget system \3\ in 1921,\4\ and
the coincident change in the rules of the House and Senate
concentrating the power to report appropriations in one committee, the
number and scope of the general appropriation bills were materially
changed.
The nature of this revision is shown in the following table inserted
in the Record by Mr. Martin B. Madden, of Illinois, on June 30, 1922:
\5\
former bills new bills
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Agricultural. 1. Agricultural Department.
2. Army. 2. Commerce and Labor Departments.
3. Diplomatic and consular. 3. District of Columbia.
4. District of Columbia. 4. Executive Office and independent offices
5. Fortification. commissions, etc.
6. Indian. 5. Interior Department.
7. Legislative, executive, and judicial. 6. Legislative branch.
8. Navy. 7. Navy Department.
9. Pension. 8. Post Office Department.
10. Post Office. 9. State and Justice Departments.
11. River and harbor. 10. Treasury Department.
12. Sundry civil. 11. War Department.
13. Deficiency \6\ 12. Deficiency.\6\
\1\ Supplementary to Chapter XCIV.
\2\ The Committee on Appropriations, in the third session of the
Sixty-sixth Congress, consolidated the Military Academy appropriation
bill with the Army appropriation bill, thus reducing the number of
annual supply bills from 13 to 12.
\3\ U.S. Code, title 31, sections 1, 2, 11; title 24, sections 123,
244.
\4\ The concentration of appropriating authority in one committee of
the House had been previously effected by an amendment to the rules
adopted June 1, 1920, and effective July 1 of that year (second session
Sixty-sixth Congress, Record, p. 8108).
\5\ Second session Sixty-seventh Congress, Record, p. 9852.
\6\ The deficiency bills, which are not general appropriation bills,
vary in number from two to four for each session of Congress.
Sec. 1116
The new bills are composed of items for each department or
establishment heretofore distributed in several bills, as follows:
1. Agricultural: Items for that department formerly in the
Agricultural and sundry civil bills.
2. Commerce and Labor: Items for those departments formerly in the
sundry civil and legislative, executive, and judicial bills.
3. District of Columbia: Items formerly carried in the District of
Columbia bill and all other items in the sundry civil and legislative,
executive, and judicial bills chargeable in part against the revenues
of the District of Columbia.
4. Executive Office and independent offices: Items formerly carried
for these purposes in the sundry civil and legislative, executive, and
judicial bills.
5. Interior Department: Items for this department formerly carried in
the sundry civil, legislative, executive, and judicial, and pension
bills.
6. Legislative branch: Items for the Senate, House, joint
congressional committees and commissions, Capitol police, legislative
drafting service, Architect of the Capitol, Library of Congress,
Botanic Garden, and Government Printing Office (exclusive of printing
and binding for the executive departments), formerly in sundry civil
and legislative, executive, and judicial bills.
7. Navy: Items for the Navy formerly carried in the Navy bill and for
the Navy Department proper, formerly in the legislative, executive, and
judicial bill.
8. Post Office: Items for the postal service in the field, formerly
carried in the Post Office bill, and for the Post Office Department
proper in Washington, formerly in the legislative, executive, and
judicial, and sundry civil bills.
9. State and Justice: Items for those departments and the courts
formerly carried in the sundry civil, legislative, executive, and
judicial, and diplomatic and consular bills.
10. Treasury: Items for the Treasury Department formerly in the
sundry civil and legislative, executive, and judicial bills.
11. War: Items for the War Department formerly in the Army,
fortification, legislative, executive, and judicial, river and harbor,
and sundry civil bills. The bill is divided into two titles, namely,
one title for the military activities and expenses directly related
thereto and the other for the nonmilitary activities.
The number of appropriation bills was further reduced in the Sixty-
eighth Congress when the appropriations for the State and Justice
Departments and the Commerce and Labor Departments were reported in one
bill known as the State, Justice, Commerce and Labor bill, and the
appropriations for Treasury and Post Office Departments were reported
in one bill known as the Treasury and Post Office bill.
Under this system the number of regular annual general appropriation
bills ordinarily is 9, supplemented by one or more deficiency
appropriation bills, all of which are reported by the Committee on
Appropriations.
In order to systematize and facilitate consideration of estimates and
the preparation of these bills, the Committee on Appropriations
apportions its members to 9 subcommittees,\1\ each of which has charge
of one of the bills and reports it to the committee en banc, by which,
after consideration and adoption, the bills are reported to the House.
The War Department bill consists of two sections, the military
section and the nonmilitary section, the latter of which includes
appropriations for rivers and harbors formerly reported as a separate
bill. Originally the river and harbor bill was not
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Each of nine of the subcommittees consists of five Members and
has charge of one of the nine general appropriation bills. The ninth,
consisting of ten Members, has charge of the deficiency bills. A
majority of the Members of the Committee on Appropriation serve on two
subcommittees; newer Members serve on one; Members of longer service
have sometimes been assigned to three.
Sec. 1117
one of the general appropriation bills,\1\ but beginning with the
Sixty-sixth Congress \2\ it was classed as a general appropriation
bill, and so remained until merged with the War Department bill under
the revision of the annual supply bills by the Committee on
Appropriations.
1117. A discussion of procedure ordinarily followed in the
consideration and passage of a general appropriation bill.--On May 26,
1928,\3\ Mr. Guy U. Hardy, of Colorado, under a leave to extend remarks
in the Record, included the following:
The Appropriations Committee meets in advance of the convening of
Congress. It has before it the Budget recommended by the President,
reported in a book of over 1,500 pages, containing the items
recommended for each department in detail.
The Appropriations Committee is made up of 35 members, 21 of the
majority and 14 of the minority and is divided up in subcommittees for
the consideration of the different bills. There is a subcommittee for
the Treasury and Post Office Departments; subcommittee for the Interior
Department, the War Department, the Navy Department, Agricultural
Department, and other departments. Six members serve on the first-named
and five members on each of the others.
Skeleton bills are printed for each subcommittee. These bills show
the Budget estimate for the current year for each item, the amount
recommended by the Budget, and the amount actually appropriated by
Congress for each of the preceding six years.
These different bills are referred to the appropriate subcommittees
for consideration, and the subcommittees begin hearings that may cover
several weeks each.
We will follow the Navy bill through. The subcommittee on the Navy is
made up of five members--three of the majority and two of the minority.
Note the sections from which members of this subcommittee come--Mr.
French, chairman, of Moscow, Idaho; Mr. Hardy, Canon City, Colo.; Mr.
Taber, Auburn, N. Y.; Mr. Ayres, Wichita, Kans.; and Mr. Oliver,
Tuscaloosa, Ala. Not a seacoast man on the committee. The object, of
course, is not to have men on that committee who have local interests
to consider.
The subcommittee holds hearings that usually run six or eight weeks,
meeting daily from 10:30 to 5 o'clock. Members must do their other work
largely at night. The bill is analyzed in minutest detail. The
Secretary of the Navy, the Assistant Secretary, the Chief of
Operations, heads of bureaus and departments, admirals, captains,
commander, and experts in many lines come before the committee and
discuss policies and operations and endeavor to justify the amounts of
money estimated for their bureau, service, or activity. Experts on
submarines, aircraft, ammunition storage, and many other subjects are
called. No employee of the Government can ask the Congress for more
money than is suggested by the Budget. He is forbidden to do so by the
President. Those representing the department have to make a pretty good
showing before the committee to get as much as the Budget suggests. The
totals for the departments are usually cut down.
After the subcommittee has heard everybody interested a book of
hearings is printed. It is a compendium of information relating to the
Navy. Each subcommittee is working in the same way--and hearings are
printed for each bill.
After the hearings are over the subcommittee takes a few days to
write up the bill and arrive at the amounts it will recommend to the
House. Then the bill is presented to the whole Appropriations Committee
for discussion and approval, and reported out.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Secs. 3553, 3897-3903 of Hinds' Precedents; third session Sixty-
second Congress, Record, p. 2051; second session Sixty-fifth Congress,
Record, p. 5176.
\2\ Third session Sixty-sixth Congress, Record, pp. 2156, 2348, 2352.
\3\ First session Seventieth Congress, Record, p. 10182.
Sec. 1118
The bill comes up in the House in its regular order. It usually
requires from three to six days to pass an appropriation bill in the
House. There is much debate and many speeches on questions of policy,
number of men, number of ships, number and class of airplanes, pay and
allowances, submarines, airplane carriers, guns, and ammunition.
Amendments are sometimes offered on the floor, but few amendments are
adopted to an appropriation bill--practically none that the committee
does not offer or approve.
The Navy bill this year was reported out at $359,190,737. The House
added $227,500, with approval of committee.
After the bill passed the House at $359,418,237 it went to the
Senate. There it was studied by the committee, reported out, and passed
the Senate at $363,737,017.69. The Senate had increased the bill by
$4,318,780.69.
The bill comes back to the House as amended and the House refuses to
accept amendments and asks for a conference.
For several weeks the subcommittee of the Senate and subcommittee of
the House meet in conference occasionally. All the different items the
Senate has added are thoroughly discussed. The House accepts a few, the
Senate gives up a few, and we deadlock for some weeks on the big ones.
The question of number of men in the Navy is one of the contested
points. The House provides for 83,250 men. The Senate wants to provide
for 86,000 men. It costs upward of $1,000 per year for each man in the
Navy. Here is a difference of about $2,250,000 on men alone. After many
meetings and much argument each makes concessions and an agreement is
reached late in the session. The Senators agree to 84,000 men. The
House conferees accept 84,000 men. The Senate bill is reduced by
$1,591,205.69. The House conferees feel that they have done the best
they could--that a million and a half dollars is worth saving.
The conference report is signed, reported back to both Senate and
House, and adopted. Conference reports are usually adopted.
The Navy bill now stands at $362,145,812 for the coming year, is sent
to the President, signed, and becomes law.
With the Post Office bill we had better luck. The subcommittee of six
members wrote up the bill at $764,950,042, which was $3,100,000 less
than the Budget recommended. The whole committee reported it out as
written. The House passed the bill without a single change. The Senate
added $36,000--small item, indeed. The bill goes to conference and the
conference agree to cut the $36,000 off. Bill goes back to both Houses
and is passed identically as written and originally reported by the
small subcommittee of six members.
This, in brief, is the history of the enactment of all appropriation
bills. The bill as finally adopted reflects the calm judgment of the
Bureau of the Budget, the two appropriation committees, the two Houses
of Congress, and the President.
1118. Appropriations for other purposes than to supply deficiencies
are not in order in a deficiency appropriation bill.
Discussion as to what is a ``deficiency'' appropriation.
On January 29, 1920,\1\ the House was in the Committee of the Whole
House on the state of the Union, considering the second deficiency
appropriation bill.
The Clerk having read a paragraph providing for expenses of the
Council of National Defense, Mr. George Holden Tinkham, of
Massachusetts, made a point of order that it did not provide for a
deficiency.
The Chairman \2\ said:
The point of order made by the gentleman from Massachusetts is that
the paragraph in question does not present a deficiency. He
distinguishes between a deficiency and an anticipatory or anticipated
deficiency. The Chair is not able, however, to follow this line of
argument to any
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Second session Sixty-sixth Congress, Record, p. 2219.
\2\ John Q. Tilson, of Connecticut, Chairman.
Sec. 1119
satisfactory conclusion, being unable to distinguish between a
deficiency and an anticipated deficiency or an anticipatory deficiency.
If the paragraph does not present a deficiency in the parliamentary
sense of the word as used in this House it has no place in the bill.
It has been shown that this appropriation sought be made in this
paragraph is authorized by existing law. It is also shown that it was
appropriated for in a previous act, now current law. The question now
is whether the present paragraph is a deficiency item appropriate to be
included in a deficiency bill.
It is clear to the Chair that an estimate having been brought in by a
department of the Government, the estimate having been considered by
the Appropriations Committee, and it having been found by that
committee to be necessary to add to the appropriations heretofore made
an additional sum to carry on the activities of this particular
department to the end of the present fiscal year, it was properly
included in this bill as a deficiency item. The Chair therefore
overrules the point of order.
1119. Items which do not supply deficiencies are not in order in the
deficiency appropriation bills.
Appropriations ``immediately available,'' formerly ruled out of
supply bills as deficiency appropriations, are no longer subject to
points of order as such (footnote).
On May 23, 1921,\1\ while the deficiency appropriation bill was being
read for amendment in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of
the Union, an item providing an appropriation for salaries in the
Treasury Department at annual rates for the next fiscal year was
reached.
Mr. Otis Wingo, of Arkansas, made a point of order against the item
on the ground that it did not provide for a deficiency and therefore
was not in order in a deficiency bill.
In the course of the discussion Mr. James R. Mann, of Illinois, said:
It was ruled only recently, as it has been ruled many times before,
that the sundry civil appropriation bill or any other appropriating
bill which the Committee on Appropriations had jurisdiction of, could
have included within it the term ``to be immediately available,''
because the same committee had jurisdiction over deficiencies. That was
ruled at the last session of Congress, and it has been ruled many times
since I have been a Member of this House. The identical reason applies
to this case, because if a deficiency is in order on a sundry civil
appropriation bill, or other appropriating bill, then an appropriation
for the next fiscal year would be in order on this bill. The only point
of order that ever was made was one of jurisdiction. I have made the
point of order against the words ``to be immediately available'' \2\
500 times or more in this House and have been sustained, but that was
where some other committee than the Committee on Appropriations was
trying to make a deficiency appropriation, as, for instance, the
Committee on Naval Affairs or the Committee on Military Affairs. On the
other hand, it has been ruled ever since I have been a Member of the
House that the Committee on Appropriations could provide a deficiency
item in one of its regular appropriating bills.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ First session Sixty-seventh Congress, Record, p. 1642.
\2\ As a provision making an appropriation ``immediately available''
amounts to a deficiency appropriation, and prior to the concentration
of authority to report appropriations in the Committee on
Appropriations that committee exercised exclusive jurisdiction over
deficiencies, such items when reported by other committees were
formerly subject to a point of order. But under the present rule, the
Committee on Appropriations, having jurisdiction over all
appropriations, including deficiencies, may report items to become
immediately available in any general supply bill.
Sec. 1120
The Chairman \1\ ruled:
The Chair is ready to rule. If this question were raised for the
first time in the House, the Chair would be disposed to say that the
rules of the House were made for the convenience of the House and to
enable it to expedite its business, and would probably overrule the
point of order; but the question is one that has been before the House
many times. The orderly procedure of making appropriations has been
that certain bills are brought into the House in which appropriations
are made for certain activities of the Government in a systematic way.
Toward the close of the Congress it has always been the custom to bring
in deficiency appropriation bills to provide for deficiencies. In the
consideration of deficiency bills it has been invariably the ruling of
the Chair to rule out of order amendments offered from the floor which
were not strictly deficiency items, and also to rule provisions of the
bill which were not strictly deficiency items were out of order. Such a
ruling occurred on the 2d of February, 1920, when the then Chairman
held that an item that was not a deficiency item was not in order on a
deficiency appropriation bill. As the Chair stated in the beginning, if
it were an original proposition the Chair would be disposed to consider
the matter in the light of the argument made by those who contend that
the matter being within the jurisdiction of the Committee on
Appropriations that committee could appropriate for an activity of the
Government in any bill. But the last decision on the question, rendered
in February, 1920, in a very well considered opinion after argument,
held that an item was not in order on a deficiency appropriation bill
that appropriated for the ensuing fiscal year. Therefore the Chair
sustains the point of order.\2\
1120. Under the modern practice the provision that an appropriation
be ``immediately available ``is not subject to a point of order.--On
January 9, 1929,\3\ the War Department appropriation bill was under
consideration in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the
Union, when a paragraph providing for the construction of a new mess
hall at the United States Military Academy was read.
Mr. Cassius C. Dowell, of Iowa, made a point of order against the
item on the ground that the appropriation was to be ``immediately
available.''
The Chairman \4\ overruled the point of order and said:
As the Chair recalls, this particular point has been ruled upon a
number of times since the adoption of our present system of
appropriating. A point of order made on account of the words
``immediately available'' has been overruled.
Such items were formerly ruled out on account of jurisdiction, but
since the Committee on Appropriations now has exclusive jurisdiction of
all general appropriation bills, the point of order is no longer valid.
The Chair recalls a number of instances that have been ruled in this
way. The Chair, therefore, overrules that point of order.
1121. Decision as to what constitutes a deficiency appropriation.
An additional appropriation for a purpose authorized by law and
already appropriated for was treated as a deficiency appropriation when
submitted by the department and reported by the committee as such.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Philip P. Campbell, of Kansas, Chairman.
\2\ The practice of restricting deficiency bills to provisions for
deficits in appropriations previously made for the current and prior
fiscal years only, has been superseded and items and amendments for
ensuing years are now admitted. (Cannon's Procedure, second edition, p.
25).
\3\ Second session Seventieth Congress, Record, p. 1446.
\4\ John Q. Tilson, of Connecticut, Chairman.
Sec. 1120
On June 2, 1920,\1\ the deficiency appropriation bill for the fiscal
year ending June 30, 1920, being under consideration in the Committee
of the Whole House on the state of the Union, Mr. James C. McLaughlin,
of Michigan, raised the question of order that a paragraph read by the
Clerk did not constitute a deficiency appropriation.
The Chairman \2\ said:
The gentleman from Michigan makes the point of order against the
paragraph under the Bureau of Biological Survey, general expenses, that
it is not a deficiency.
``General expenses, Bureau of Biological Survey, including the same
objects specified under this head in the agricultural appropriation act
for the fiscal year 1920, $36,271.50.''
On turning to the agricultural appropriation act for the current year
the Chair finds that under the Bureau of Biological Survey there was an
appropriation made of $686,300. The point of order made by the
gentleman from Michigan is that this item, making an appropriation for
the same objects specified under this head is not a deficiency. The
Chair is unable to rule that it is not a deficiency. Where there has
been an appropriation for a particular item in the current law, where
the committee comes in with an additional sum submitted upon an
estimate of the department and states that it is a deficiency, how is
the Chair to find that it is not? It is impossible in such
circumstances for the Chair to determine whether or not it is an actual
deficiency. In the view of the Chair it is a deficiency in a
parliamentary sense, and the Chair therefore overrules the point of
order.
1122. A bill making supplemental appropriation for emergency
construction on public works is not a general appropriation bill.--On
December 9, 1930,\3\ Mr. William R. Wood, of Indiana, from the
Committee on Appropriations, asked unanimous consent for the
consideration of the bill (H. R. 14804) making supplemental
appropriation to provide for emergency construction on certain public
works during the remainder of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1931,
with a view to increasing employment.
The bill provided appropriations for the construction of highways
under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture, for roads and
trails under the Department of the Interior, and for river and harbor
expenditures under the War Department.
Mr. Fiorello H. LaGuardia, of New York, on a parliamentary inquiry,
took the position that the bill was a general appropriation bill and
therefore privileged.
The Speaker \4\ ruled that the bill was without privilege and could
be accorded immediate consideration only by unanimous consent.
1123. A deficiency appropriation bill is a general appropriation
bill.
Consideration of a general appropriation bill was held to be in order
on District of Columbia Monday.
On Monday, February 26, 1923,\5\ a day designated by the rules for
the consideration of business reported by the Committee on the District
of Columbia, Mr. Martin B. Madden, of Illinois, moved that the House
resolve itself into the Com-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Second session of Sixty-sixth Congress, Record, p. 8298.
\2\ John Q. Tilson, of Connecticut, Chairman.
\3\ Third session Seventy-first Congress, Record, p. 432.
\4\ Nicholas Longworth, of Ohio, Speaker.
\5\ Fourth session Sixty-seventh Congress, Journal, p. 274; Record,
p. 4678.
Sec. 1124
mittee of the Whole House on the state of the Union for the
consideration of the third deficiency appropriation bill.
Mr. Thomas L. Blanton, of Texas, made the point of order that the
motion was not in order on this day.
The Speaker pro tempore \1\ said:
The gentleman from Illinois moves that the House resolve itself into
Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union for the further
consideration of the deficiency bill, and the gentleman from Texas
makes the point of order that the gentleman from Illinois may not make
that motion to-day, for the reason that it is the fourth Monday in the
month. The rules specifically provide that it is in order to move on
this day to go into Committee of the Whole House on the state of the
Union for the consideration of a general appropriation bill, and it has
always been held that a deficiency appropriation bill is a general
appropriation bill. Therefore the Chair overrules the point of order.
An appeal by Mr. Blanton from the decision of the Chair was, on
motion of Mr. Frank W. Mondell, of Wyoming, laid on the table--yeas
103, nays 14.
1124. The statutes prescribe the method of submission to Congress of
estimates of appropriations for support of the Government.
Only such estimates as are transmitted through channels provided by
law are considered in preparation of the annual supply bills.
The Speaker declines to refer to the Committee on Appropriations
estimates or requests relating to appropriations transmitted through
other than official channels.
On November 9, 1921, the Speaker \2\ transmitted to the Secretary of
War the following communication:
November 9, 1921.
Hon. John W. Weeks,
Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.
Dear Sir: Receipt is acknowledged of your letter of November 7, 1921,
requesting the transfer of appropriations by appropriate legislation
from ``Arming, equipping, and training the National Guard,'' etc., to
``Transportation of supplies,'' etc. In effect this letter is an
estimate for a deficiency appropriation, and since it is not
transmitted through the channels prescribed by the Budget law,\3\ may
not form the basis for an official estimate for the purposes of
referring it to the Committee on Appropriations or including the item
in an appropriation bill reported from the committee.
Yours respectfully,
Frederick H. Gillett.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Philip P. Campbell, of Kansas, Speaker pro tempore.
\2\ Frederick H. Gillett, of Massachusetts, Speaker.
\3\ 31 U. S. C. I.