Appropriations subcommittee hearings are a major forum for discussion of the budget, and the clearest point at which the public can express and defend its views. Respected professionals and professional organizations are often requested to provide testimony. Other individuals may also offer testimony so long as they obtain the support of a member of Congress prior to the hearing. Each subcommittee, and in particular its chairperson, has significant control over who is invited or permitted to present testimony. The chairperson, always a member of the majority party, decides not only how many witnesses the majority will have, but how many the minority will be allowed to present. (The majority always have the greater number.)
Many informal private meetings also take place at this stage between members of Congress or their staff and individuals or groups wishing to influence the budget decision. While the public hearings are more visible, it is often these private meetings that wield the greater influence. Some take place in the offices of the elected representatives, others in home settings, still others on golf courses. To make such exchanges take place, individual citizens or local groups begin as early as February to ask their legislators for spring and summer meetings to discuss their needs and the possible allocation of funds to fulfill them.
Pressure on elected representatives can be intensified during this period by mobilizing write-in campaigns, e-mail, or phone calls to support or oppose specific issues. Concern and commitment expressed by large numbers of constituents can play an important role in getting an elected representative to recognize that an issue deserves greater attention. Such efforts can be especially effective when the constituents' lobbying is coupled with expert input on the same topic. All these efforts bear fruit when the senators and representatives on the various subcommittees present their case for certain spending levels.