Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space

In the Senate, most authorizing legislation for physics-related programs is drafted by the Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space of the Senate Commerce Committee. While this Senate subcommittee has jurisdiction over most of the federal civilian science and technology programs, its counterpart in the House is a full committee, the Science Committee. The House Science Committee has four separate subcommittees to oversee different areas of science and technology. See http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm for the Web sites for all senators.

Congress deals primarily with two types of bills, authorization and appropriations. Authorizing legislation gives a federal department or agency permission to spend money and sets policy direction; appropriations provide the actual money. In theory, major agencies and programs should be authorized before having funds appropriated for them, but in reality, many programs receive funding that have not been recently authorized.

COMMERCE, SCIENCE AND TRANSPORTATION 508 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg, Washington, DC 20510-6125, 202-224-5115 John McCain (R-Ariz.) -- Chairman Ernest Hollings (D-CS) -- Ranking Member SUBCOMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SPACE 428 Hart Senate Office Bldg, Washington, DC 20510, 202-224-8172 REPUBLICANS Chairman:Bill Frist (Tenn.) Conrad Burns (Mont.) Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas) Ted Stevens (Alaska) Spencer Abraham (Mich.) DEMOCRATS Ranking Member: John Breaux (La.) John D. Rockefeller IV (W.Va.) John Kerry (Mass.) Byron L. Dorgan (N.D.)