Committee InfoDescriptionHello, Senators, and welcome to the Senate Standing Committee on Appropriations! This committee was specifically created for the purpose of reviewing “appropriations made by law” prior to the expenditure of any money from the Federal treasury. What this basically means is this committee controls a lot of the money that funds very important federal programs. It is the largest committee in the Senate with 30 members, and it is also one of the most powerful committees in Congress.Recently, the Appropriations Committee had great success with a MilCon bill (pertaining to “Military Construction”) that will enact more than $133.9 billion in federal funding to military construction, health care for veterans, and other ongoing military costs. With a looming national deficit and wars in the Middle East, bills such as this are crucial for those in Congress who are worried about our government’s financial situation and also the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The committee has jurisdiction over much of the discretionary spending from the United States budget. That’s why it is so important in the Senate; most programs and plans must receive funding from the Appropriations Committee before they can be put into action. In the past, the Appropriations committee has been responsible for extremely important and controversial legislation that involved the following: alternative energy research; homeland security and defense initiatives; labor, health, and education programs; and a number of transportation and rural development budgets. Since this committee has such a wide range of jurisdiction over federal funding, it is split up into twelve subcommittees that are each in charge of a special area of legislation. For more information on the Appropriations Committee, including each of the twelve subcommittees, visit their website at www.appropriations.senate.gov and also the Library of Congress’ website at www.thomas.loc.gov. -------------------- Hi my name is Maddie Shiff and I am a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences at Penn. I plan to major in History with a minor in Philosophy. I am from Toronto, Ontario and I attended the Bishop Strachan School. My high school did not have a Model Congress program, but I was very active in Model United Nations. In addition to participating in Model Congress I am the Organization-Outreach Co-Chair of SPEC Connaissance, which works to bring speakers to the school, and I am a writer for the Daily Pennsylvanian, Penn's daily newspaper, as well as the weekly 34th Street arts and culture magazine. Please don't hesitate to contact me at mshiff@sas.upenn.edu with any questions about Model Congress procedure or help with writing bills etc. I look forward to meeting all of you at the conference! Hey everyone! Welcome to the Appropriations Committee in the Blue Senate for PennMC 2010. My name is Parker Unruh, and I'm a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences. I'm planning on majoring in Political Science and Economics, and I'm also shooting for a minor in Legal Studies & History with the Wharton Business School. My home is all the way over in Portland, Oregon, but when I was in high school I attended Harvard Model Congress and had a ton of fun. My experiences there are what led me to getting involved with PennMC in college. Aside from PennMC, I'm involved with our school's chapter of the Ivy Council, where we're currently working to publish a book of admissions essays from all eight Ivy League schools. If you have questions about PennMC, how to write your bills, or anything else, feel free to email me at punruh@sas.upenn.edu. I'm really excited to be chairing your committee, and look forward to meet you all in February! Chairs
|
Account LoginConference DatesMarch 31 - April 3, 2011 RegistrationRegistration is now closed. InformationClick here for more details about PENNMC 2011! Check us out on Facebook!
|
