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Congress established the Basic Energy
Sciences (BES) program through legislation included in the Atomic Energy Act of
1946 (Public
Law 79-585, August 1, 1946; 42 U.S.C.
1801 et
seq.), the Atomic Energy Act of
1954 (Public
Law 83-703, August 30, 1954; 42 U.S.C. 2011 et
seq.), the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 (Public Law
93-438, October 11, 1974; 42 U.S.C. 5801 et seq.), the Department
of Energy Organization Act of 1977 (Public Law
95-91, August 4, 1977; 42 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.), and the
Energy Policy Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-486,
October 24, 1992; 42
U.S.C. 134 et seq.). For example, the basic research and user facilities
responsibilities of BES are clearly set forth in Section 2203 of
the Energy Policy Act. These laws created and promulgated the BES program, and
annual appropriation laws provide funding and guidance for the program's activities.
In the Congressional
budget process, the BES program is governed by the four Congressional Committees shown
in the table below. Each Committee contains a
subcommittee that specifically considers the BES portion of the
President's Budget
Request. Details regarding these legislative processes are
available in "How
Our Laws are Made" and "Enactment
of a Law."
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More information about Congress
and how to contact its members
can be
found by visiting the House and Senate web pages or by connecting to other internet
resources* such as Congress
Merge, YourCongress.com,
Congress.Org,
or Contacting the Congress. For example, to obtain
the names of your specific representatives and how to write to them, just
type your zip code in
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