Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions

In the Senate, authorizing legislation for Department of Education programs, including those focusing on science and math education, is drafted by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. The National Science Foundation also funds programs in science and math education; authorizing legislation for NSF is under the jurisdiction of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space. Below is the roster for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions for the 106th Congress. 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.

COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR AND PENSIONS 428 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, KDC 20510-6300 202-224-5375 http://www.senate.gov/~labor/ REPUBLICANS James Jeffords (Vermont) - Chairman Judd Gregg (N.H.) Bill Frist (Tenn.) Mike DeWine (Ohio) Michael Enzi (Wyo.) Tim Hutchinson (Ark.) Susan Collins (Maine) Sam Brownback (Ks.) Chuck Hagel (Neb.) Jeff Sessions (Ala.) DEMOCRATS Edward Kennedy (Mass.) - Ranking Minority Member Christopher Dodd (Conn.) Tom Harkin (Iowa) Barbara Mikulski (Md.) Jeff Bingaman (N.M.) Paul Wellstone (Mn.) Patty Murray (Wash.) Jack Reed (R.I.)