United States Senate
 GO
United States Senate Senators HomeCommittees HomeLegislation & Records HomeArt & History HomeVisitor Center HomeReference Home
United States Senate
People
Origins & Development
Historical Minutes
Exhibits
Special Collections Highlights
Paintings
Sculpture
Graphic Arts
Oral History


  
 
 
J. Keith Kennedy
Staff Director/ Clerk of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Deputy Senate Sergeant at Arms

“The appropriations process one way or another affects everything the government does,” commented J. Keith Kennedy on his unprecedented three tours of duty as staff director and chief clerk for the Senate Appropriations Committee. The committee handles all federal spending, an annual function that has made it one of the largest, most powerful and prestigious of Senate committees. When Kennedy first became staff director in 1981 there were 79 members of the committee’s staff; and when he retired in 2006, the staff had risen to 125. The complex system of appropriating, shared by the Senate and House, and subject to presidential veto, stimulated much controversy during the 1980s and 1990s, from massive federal deficits, to a temporary shut down of the federal government, to an increasing tendency of legislators to “earmark” appropriations for specific projects. Kennedy’s oral history offers his unique perspective on this process and the sparring between the legislative and executive branches.

Table of Contents:
Preface
1) Meeting Mark Hatfield
2) The Senate Appropriations Committee
3) The Appropriations Process
4) The Reagan Era
5) The Government Shut Down
6) Inside and Outside the Senate
7) A Return to Regular Order
Index
Keith Kennedy
Citation: Scholarly citation: "J. Keith Kennedy: Staff Director/Clerk of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Deputy Senate Sergeant at Arms,” Oral History Interviews, August 5, 2003, to July 22, 2008, Senate Historical Office, Washington, D.C.
 
Deed of Gift: I, J. Keith Kennedy, do hereby give to the Senate Historical Office the tape recordings and transcripts of my interviews between August 5, 2003 and May 16, 2007. I authorize the Senate Historical Office to use the tapes and transcripts in such a manner as may best serve the educational and historical objectives of their oral history program. I also approve the deposit of the transcripts at the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the Senate Library, and any other institution which the Senate Historical Office may deem appropriate. In making this gift, I voluntarily convey ownership of the tapes and transcripts to the public domain. J. Keith Kennedy, July 22, 2008. Accepted on behalf of the Senate Historical Office by: Richard A. Baker, September 11, 2008.
 
  

Senate Historical Office

Historical information provided by the Senate Historical Office.


E-mail a Senate historian

Have a historical question?  E-mail a Senate historian.

Go

Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

Information about any senator, representative, vice president, or member of the Continental Congress.  

Go