The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations conduct a full inquiry into the President's Budget Request. This is accomplished through a series of hearings in which Executive Branch officials and others present testimony to the Congress on the President's Budget. In the hearings, federal agencies have the opportunity to clarify, supplement, and update their budget justifications through prepared statements and a question and answer session on matters of special concern to the Congress and, if necessary, through written responses to questions from Members.
The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations have 12 subcommittees respectively, each responsible for at least one regular appropriation bill. The Committee on Appropriations is one of 20 standing committees in the House and one of 16 standing committees in the Senate -- the House Committee consists of 66 members; the Senate committee of 29 members.
The general procedure of the subcommittee is to conduct informal business through designated staff assistants working with the Office of Budget staff. Formal communications generally take place between the subcommittee Chairman and the Secretary or the Chief Financial Officer/Assistant Secretary for Administration.
Hearings
Procedures applicable to both House and Senate
Because of the recurring, demanding nature of Appropriations Committee work, the House and Senate permit these committees more latitude than other committees with respect to procedure. The major exception allows Appropriations subcommittees to conduct hearings while the House and Senate are in session, and to have priority on the calendar. Hearings and meetings with the Appropriations Committees are held in the Capitol building to permit members to attend roll calls and to vote with a minimum of disruption to the hearings process. Verification of this data can be found on the Internet on the Appropriations Committee websites.
Space in the hearing room is limited; witnesses and their staffs should wait in the corridor outside the hearing room, or in a waiting room as directed by the Office of Budget and subcommittee staff until it is their turn to enter the hearing room.
After identification of the item under consideration and the witnesses, the person designated as the principal witness is given the opportunity to make an opening statement highlighting and emphasizing the salient features of the budget request. The Chairman, followed by other subcommittee members, addresses questions to the principal witness, first on the opening statement and then on other elements of each appropriation request. If principal witnesses cannot answer, or wishes their response to be amplified, they may refer questions to other witnesses present or offer to supply additional data.
Ordinarily, supporting witnesses do not participate in testimony unless called upon by the principal witness or the Chairman. However, such witnesses may interject themselves, if it is obviously necessary to do so, by requesting permission of the Chairman, such as: (a) "Mr. Chairman, perhaps I can respond to your inquiry-." (b) "Mr. Chairman, if I may be permitted to supplement Mr. 's remarks--"; or (c) "Mr. Chairman, I think I might be able to clarify this matter---".
Supporting witnesses should never interject themselves unless the procedure has been agreed to in advance with the principal witness and the supporting witness is absolutely certain (no mistakes allowed) that they can provide a fully satisfactory response to an unanswered question, or can clarify an obvious and material misunderstanding.
If exhibits or documents are requested or called for in response to questions from the Chairman or other subcommittee members, the exhibits or documents must in all cases be offered to the Chairman (handed to the subcommittee clerk) rather than directly to another subcommittee member. For example: "Mr. Chairman, I have here a table which I think contains the information requested." To the extent that the need for exhibits and documents to be submitted can be anticipated, the subcommittee staff should be furnished copies in advance through the Budget Officer. This will assure a minimum of surprises and a more effective hearing.
It is considered a prerogative of the Chairman as to whether or not exhibits or documents are placed in the record. Witnesses should not offer exhibits "for the record," but only "in response to your request," or "for the information of the Committee."
House Procedures
The House may conduct separate hearings. Hearings are normally open to the public and a limited number of public seats are available. Attendance by federal agencies should be limited to witnesses and essential staff support to permit a maximum number of seats to be used by the public. Hearings are not normally conducted unless both majority and minority representatives are present.
Senate Procedures
Under current practice, the Senate holds fewer hearings than the House. Senate hearings are generally limited to an overview appearance by the Secretary with perhaps one or two of the larger agency operating units receiving a separate hearing. Again, these hearings are normally open to the public and attendance by non-essential personnel should be limited to permit maximum public attendance. Although every effort is made to have maximum representation and participation by the members of the subcommittee at all hearings, they may be conducted with only one member of the subcommittee present.
Time Schedule
Agency is responsible for developing, with subcommittee staff, the time schedule for the appearance of witnesses, coordinating changes in the schedule, and keeping principal witnesses and designated budget officers advised. House and Senate hearings are usually held between February and April.
The time constraints on the Appropriations Committees must be considered in setting time schedules for hearings, and, except for extraordinary situations in which the public interest would be manifestly jeopardized, agency officials must adjust their personal time schedules to meet subcommittee requirements. Usually, within the general time constraint, the initial hearing is set at a date convenient to the Secretary with other time schedules following immediately thereafter.
It is rare that either the House or Senate is able to exactly maintain the initial schedule. Agency officials must take this into account and keep their own schedules sufficiently flexible to accommodate delays.
Witnesses should not request a change in the time for which they are scheduled except in the most urgent circumstances. Any deviation from the schedule requires the subcommittee staff to coordinate changes with members who often schedule their attendance for selected witnesses or programs. Schedule changes also require changes for other operating units which cannot always be made on short notice. If a change appears necessary, it must be arranged by designated official through the clerk of the subcommittee. Operating units should not take up such problems directly with the subcommittee.
Witness preparation
Witnesses at appropriations hearings represent the entire executive branch and are expected to support the President's budget decisions to the best of their ability. All witnesses must be familiar with the provisions of Section 22 of OMB Circular A-11 relating to agency testimony before, and communications with, the Congress on budgetary matters.
Witnesses are expected to be thoroughly familiar with the contents of the justification material for the items being considered and with the programs which they represent. Subcommittees expect the principal witness to be able to answer most questions. There are times, however, when there are questions on details with which the principal witness could not be expected to be familiar, and these may be properly referred to a supporting witness.
Witnesses should also review and be prepared to comment on legislative proposals presented by the Administration or Members of Congress, GAO reports, Inspector General and internal audits, communications within the Administration which have been made public, and any magazine, newspaper, radio or television reports relating to the agency's programs which may be of interest to the Subcommittee.
Witnesses can prepare themselves by having special briefings from operating unit program and budget staff and by examination of previous hearing records for problems or questions which have been of particular concern to the subcommittees in the past. Frequently, the examination of these records brings to mind potential problem areas for which specially prepared data may be required by the subcommittee.
The basic guideline for witnesses is to be frank and responsive in all presentations to the committees. Witnesses should place their primary concern on being fully responsive, and should watch for opportunities to clarify obvious misunderstandings.
Witnesses should also consider the following guidelines:
Materials Submitted Prior to Hearings
The names and titles of prospective witnesses are to be identified and submitted by memorandum prior to the scheduled hearing. It is not always possible to make room at the hearing for all of the witnesses that an agency may wish to attend. Committees are not favorably impressed with large numbers of witnesses who are not expected to participate, and in particular with those who do not have answers when questions are directed their way. No one should be included on the witness list who is not expected or prepared to either testify or to provide supporting data.
Each principal witness is expected to present a summary written statement of the budget proposal for which he is responsible. However, the statement should present clearly and concisely what the budget proposal is and the justification for it; its figures should be readily consistent with summary tables in the justifications, and its content should follow the same order as the justifications or make it clear why a different order is followed. Center heads should be inserted whenever the subject matter changes and as necessary to highlight important points.
In both the House and Senate, statements are usually placed in the record and highlighted. Copies of these statements and of any statement which is read must be made available to the Committee through the Office of Budget and brought to the hearing to be made available to the public. No set rules regarding the length of the statement are made because of the wide variation among Agency operating units in the size and complexity of the basic programs and the budget requests. Typically, each significant element of the budget request is expected to be dealt with in the statement. Effective statements sometimes can be presented in three or four pages where there are few changes from the current year appropriation. The committees prefer short statements to maximize the time for their questions.
Each principal witness testifying for the first time before an appropriations subcommittee should have a biographic sketch available.
Materials Printed for Publication
Shortly after individual hearings are completed, one copy of the hearings transcript is picked up from the subcommittee by agency. A limited time is allowed to proofread and correct any errors in the transcript. Time available is limited because the House cannot mark up the budget request until their hearings are published. It is the agency’s responsibility to return the edited transcript within the specified time limits.
Changes or notations in the transcript must be made in medium soft black pencil. A flag should be attached to each page on which a correction is made. Changes are restricted to correction of grammatical or other obvious errors and omissions. The intent of testimony must not be altered. The subcommittee reserves the right to delete editorial changes violating these principles. Under no circumstances shall testimony of subcommittee members be altered. Marginal notes should be used to indicate obvious typographical errors in members' testimony. If there is a misstatement of fact or some other reason which you believe justifies making a change, attach a note indicating the page and the proposed change.
Descriptive headings, commonly called center heads, which briefly identify the subject matter being discussed should be inserted in the center of the page at appropriate places. As a general guide, headings should be inserted at least every three pages of transcript and whenever the subject matter changes. Where the transcript calls for an insert to be placed in the record, the insert should be identified by a brief heading. If the subject matter following the insert changes, a new heading is required as explained above.
Inserts for the Record
Material to be inserted in the record for the House or Senate must be prepared on letter size paper (8 1/2 by 11 inches), and attached to the transcript (as indicated below), together with a listing of all items to be furnished, showing the title of the insert and page number. The insert should be numbered in the upper right-hand corner with the same number as the transcript page calling for the insert, plus the letter "a", i.e., 745a, and placed immediately after page 745. If the transcript calls for more than one insert on the same page, then each insert will be numbered with the letters "a", "b", "c", etc.: i.e., the first insert will be 745a; the second, 745b; the third, 745c; and so on, and all pages will be placed immediately following page 745 of the transcript. If the material to be inserted is short (such as an explanation requiring only a few words or not more than one or two lines), this information can be written in at the appropriate place in the transcript in pencil, rather than attaching a separate sheet. Under unusual circumstances, where it is physically impossible to submit the material with the transcript, the list should indicate the expected submission date. A copy of each insertion, together with the list, must be furnished for agency budget files. Material to be inserted in the record should not be reduced before attaching to the transcript.