This was in the FAA VOICE newsletter a while back; I just stumbled across it looking for something else but I thought it was pretty neat. The question is, what's the deal with "authorization" and "appropriation" in congress? You hear a lot (at least around budget time) about appropriation bills and whatnot, but I (and apparently others) never really understood what that meant.
Well, Deandra Brooks (from the FAA's Office of Government and Industry Affairs) offered the best explanation that I've ever seen:
"In congress, you have the Budget Committee, authorizing committees, and an appropriations committee. While much of their work is intertwined, they all do something a little different. But, like a 3-legged stool, we need support from each one. This is how it was explained to me; I hope it helps you better understand the distinctions."
"In a family, the dad is the Budget Committee. At the beginning of the year, he sits down and looks at the family's income and bills. He makes a list of mandatory spending - the mortgage, insurance payments, food, utilities, etc., and a list of discretionary spending - new clothes, vacations, restaurant dinners, etc. He comes up with a budget and tells the mom and kids that this is what they can and can't afford. The mom and kids quickly laugh at him."
"The kids are the authorizing committees. They are constantly complaining to mom and dad that they need new shoes, they want money to go to the movies, they should have a bigger allowance to buy the things they want like candy and comic books. They usually ask for more than they will ever get."
"Now mom is the appropriations committee. She holds the checkbook, the debit card, and the credit cards. If mom thinks that dad's budget doesn't include enough restaurant dinners, she'll just put it on a credit card. If mom thinks the kids should have ice cream, they get it; if she decides they don't need it, they don't. Because mom decides who and what gets funded, she has a lot of power."
So anyway, that's the scoop. Because I'm sure you were just dying to know...