The House Appropriations Committee is created on…

The House Appropriations Committee is created on December 11, 1865, when the House separates the tasks of the Committee on Ways and Means into three parts.

The passage of legislation affecting taxes remains with Ways and Means.

The power to regulate banking is transferred to the Committee on Banking and Commerce.

The power to appropriate money—to control the federal purse strings—is given to the newly created Appropriations Committee.

At the time of creation the membership of the committee stands at nine.

The root of the Committee's power is its ability to disburse funds.

The first budget of the U.S., in 1789, was for $639,000—a hefty sum for the time, but a much smaller amount relative to the economy than the federal budget would later become.

By the time the Appropriations committee is founded, the Civil War and inflation had raised expenditures to roughly $1.3 billion, increasing the clout of Appropriations.

Expenditures will continue to follow this pattern—rising sharply during wars before settling down—for over a hundred years.

The constitutional basis for the United States House Committee on Appropriations comes from Article one, Section nine, Clause seven of the U.S. Constitution, which states: No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time.

This clearly delegates the power of appropriating money to Congress, but is vague beyond that.

Originally, the power of appropriating had been taken by the Committee on Ways and Means, but the United States Civil War had placed a large burden on the Congress, and at the end of that conflict, a reorganization occurs.