Committees and Caucuses

Committees

Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart currently serves on the House Committee on Appropriations and three of its subcommittees.

Congress's primary responsibility for federal spending deals with discretionary allocations. The House - as well as the Senate - Appropriations Committees write the legislation that allocates federal funds to numerous government agencies, departments, and organizations on an annual basis. Appropriations are limited to the levels set by the Budget Resolution, drafted by the House Budget Committee.

The committee consists of 12 subcommittees that are tasked with drafting legislation to allocate funds to government agencies within their jurisdiction. Each subcommittee has a Chair and Vice-Chair, and are responsible for reviewing the President's budget request, hearing testimony from government officials, and drafting the spending plans for the coming fiscal year. The subcommittee's work is passed on to the full House Appropriations Committee, which may choose to modify the bills and then forward them to the full House for consideration.

JURISDICTION OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Rule X of the Rules of the House vests in the Committee on Appropriations broad responsibility over the Federal budget. Specifically, the Rule defines the Committee's jurisdiction, as follows: "Rule X clause (b). Committee on Appropriations. (1) Appropriation of the revenue for the support of the Government. (2) Rescissions of appropriations contained in appropriations Acts. (3) Transfers of unexpected balances. (4) Bills and joint resolutions reported by other committees that provide new entitlement authority as defined in section 3(9) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and referred to the committee under clause 4(a)(2)."

House Committee on Appropriations

Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee - Ranking Member

Defense - Member

Caucuses

Diaz-Balart serves in the following Caucuses:

Founder and Co-Chairman of the Congressional Everglades Caucus

Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Conference

Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of the Congressional Colombia Caucus

Co-Chairman of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus

Co-Chair of the Florida Ports Caucus

Co-Chair of the Hispanic-Serving Institutions Caucus

Member of the Congressional Friends of Spain Caucus

Member of the House Republican Israel Caucus

Member of the House Baltic Caucus

Member of the Congressional Caucus on Peru

Member of the Congressional Georgia Caucus

Member of the Congressional Morocco Caucus

Member of the European Union Caucus

Member of the Congressional Caucus on Brazil

Member of the Friends of Egypt Caucus

Member of the Iran Human Rights and Democracy Caucus

Member of the Latino-Jewish Congressional Caucus

Member of the Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues

Member of the House Specialty Crops Caucus

Member of the Air Cargo Caucus

Member of the House General Aviation Caucus

Member of the Congressional Joint Strike Fighter Caucus

Member of the Congressional Defense Communities Caucus

Member of the Congressional Caucus for Effective Foreign Assistance

Diaz-Balart serves in the following groups:
Member of the Governing Council of the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies

Chairman of the US Delegation to the Transatlantic Legislators Dialogue

Member of the U.S. Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Vice-Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Transatlantic Relations (PCTR) of the Political Committee