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Changes in Congress affect appropriations process
Thursday, March 3, 2005
The Senate has joined the House in making changes to the committees and subcommittees that handle the appropriations process, The Hill newspaper reports. A tribal attorney had earlier warned tribes to look out for the changes.
The Senate eliminated the Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development and Independent Agencies subcommittee. As a result, the Military Construction subcommittee will now handle Veterans Affairs and the Transportation-Treasury subcommittee will handle Housing and Urban Development. The "Independent Agencies" will be parceled out to other subcommittees.
Also, the Interior subcommittee will gain jurisdiction over the Environmental Protection Agency.
And the Energy and Water Development subcommittee will expand to include energy programs at the Interior Department. Finally, the State Department would transfer from the Commerce-Justice subcommittee to the Foreign Operations subcommittee.
The House had already adopted a similar structure but Senate Republican didn't make their changes until yesterday. At the National Congress of American Indians winter session this week, an attorney had urged tribes to pay close attention because some Indian programs will be affected.
"It's going to be very interesting with this new configuration," said Cindy Darcy, formerly of the Dorsey & Whitney's Indian law practice.
Get the Story:
Appropriators in Senate follow House changes
(The Hill 3/3)
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