ABSTRACT
Since the time of the Founding, spending politics in the U.S. Congress has developed from a relatively simple process to a very complex series of procedures. In early congresses, the separate chambers would simply create ad-hoc committees to write bills that would appropriate (or designate) money for various projects. The bills would then be debated in the Committee of the Whole before the respective chambers would hold a vote. For example, when thenRepresentative John C. Calhoun wanted to advance legislation to fund internal improvements such as roads and canals across the United States-what would become the Bonus Bill of 1817-he simply formed a committee to write the bill and then introduced it in the House. The House took up the bill a few months later and after some debate, it passed the House and then the Senate. Although President Madison vetoed the bill on constitutional grounds, the process tracks reasonably well with the standard textbook description of how a bill becomes a law.
