Mitch McConnell

The Senate Committee on Appropriations has enormous sway in Congress; the largest of all the committees, with 29 members, it has jurisdiction over all discretionary spending legislation in the Senate.

This Committee oversees funding of the State Department, international programs within the Department of Defense, the Peace Corps, Export-Import Bank, the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe and U.S. contributions to the IMF and U.N.

As defense spending is discretionary, this subcommittee oversees all funding of the Defense Department (Army, Navy, Air Force) as well as the CIA. The Defense Committee is so pivotal that discretionary spending is often deemed "defense" or "non-defense".

This Subcommittee has jurisdiction over funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs, construction work through the Department of Defense such as base realignments/closures/openings and military family housing.

This Subcommittee has oversight of agricultural trade, foreign market development, domestic marketing and product promotion, marketing orders and regulation of agricultural markets, as well as inspection and protection of animal and plant health.

A committee of the Senate empowered with legislative oversight of all matters relating to the nation's agriculture industry, farming programs, forestry and logging, and legislation relating to nutrition and health.