Bond Chairs Senate VA/HUD/IA Appropriations Subcommittee

In the 104th Congress, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on VA/HUD/Independent Agencies is chaired by Christopher Bond of Missouri. This subcommittee has control over the purse strings of the National Science Foundation and NASA as well as housing and veterans’ programs. Bond and his House counterpart, Jerry Lewis (R-California) are key players in determining the fiscal year 1996 budgets for those agencies.

Bond replaces Democrat Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, who gained attention during her tenure as chair with appropriations report language directing NSF to perform more “strategic research.” Mikulski is now the ranking minority member. The new subcommittee roster follows:

*new Member of Subcommittee

The subcommittee’s address is:

VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee U.S. Senate SD-142 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 (202) 224-7211

Bond is described by “Congressional Quarterly” as conservative, though not strongly partisan. As a member of the agriculture and transportation appropriations subcommittees, he has been involved in obtaining highway and agricultural funding for Missouri. He has also worked on housing legislation, and successfully encouraged the government to buy more fighter planes manufactured in his state.

An analysis of his 1993 voting record shows that Bond voted with the President 31 percent of the time, with his party 83 percent of the time, and with the conservative coalition 83 percent of the time. (This ranking, determined by “Congressional Quarterly” magazine, measures how often a Member voted with a majority of Republicans and Southern Democrats against a majority of all other Democrats.)

Bond has been consistent in his support of the space station in recent years, while continuously opposing the SSC.