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March 03, 2005
Senate Reorganizes
Posted to Author: Ryen, T.S. | Science Policy: General
A few weeks ago I wrote about the reorganization of the House Appropriations Committee. This week, the Senate announced changes as well. In general, the Senate side mirrors the House changes. VA/HUD has been disbanded and its jurisdiction spread across the remaining subcommittees.
Of the main science agencies, NASA, NSF, and DoC science are found in Commerce and Science, EPA is now in Interior, and NIH remains in Labor/HHS subcommittee.
A few differences do exist. The Senate choose to keep the DC and Legislative Branch subcommittees and made no changes to Defense. More importantly, the Senate has placed the State Department in Foreign Ops, while the House keeps State with Commerce, Science, and Justice. State was appropriated $8.5 billion last year. This difference may cause some problems when the House and Senate reconcile spending bills, as the Commerce, Science, etc. and Foreign Ops subcommittees now overlap between the two chambers. Overall, however, the changes are similar enough so that the overall appropriations process won't be threatened.
As for the particular affect on science funding, my comments from last time haven't changed.
A full list of the new structure follows:
| House Subcommittee | Chair | Senate Subcommittee | Chair |
| Agriculture | Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-TX) | Agriculture, Rural Development, and Related Agencies | Senator Bennett |
| Science, State, Justice and Commerce | Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) | Commerce, Justice, and Science | Senator Shelby |
| Defense | Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-FL) | Defense | Senator Stevens |
| Energy and Water | Rep. David Hobson (R-OH) | Energy and Water | Senator Domenici |
| Foreign Operations | Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) | State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs | Senator McConnell |
| Interior and Environment | Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC) | Interior and Related Agencies | Senator Burns |
| Homeland Security | Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY) | Homeland Security | Senator Gregg |
| Labor, Health and Human Services and Education | Rep. Ralph Regula (R-OH) | Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies | Senator Specter |
| Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs | Rep. James Walsh (R-NY) | Military Construction and Veterans Affairs | Senator Hutchison |
| Transportation, Treasury and Housing | Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) | Transportation, Treasury, the Judiciary, and Housing and Urban Development | Senator Bond |
| Legislative Branch | Senator Brownback | ||
| District of Columbia | Senator DeWine |