Most Recent Developments

On July 7, 2011, the House Appropriations Committee reported H.R. 2434, the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2012.¹ H.R. 2434 would provide $42.97 billion for agencies funded through the House FSGG appropriations subcommittee. In addition, H.R. 2112, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2012, would provide $172 million for CFTC. Total FY2012 funding provided by the House would be $43.14 billion, about $5.58 billion below the President's FY2012 request and $1.55 billion less than FY2011 enacted amounts. Table 1, below, reflects the status of FSGG legislation at key points in the appropriations process.

Introduction

The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations reorganized their subcommittee structures in early 2007. Each chamber created a new FSGG Subcommittee. In the House, the jurisdiction of the FSGG Subcommittee was formed primarily of agencies that had been under the jurisdiction of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, the District of Columbia, and Independent Agencies, commonly referred to as "TTHUD."² In addition, the House FSGG Subcommittee was assigned four independent agencies that had been under the jurisdiction of the Science, State, Justice, Commerce, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.³

In the Senate, the jurisdiction of the new FSGG Subcommittee was a combination of agencies from the jurisdiction of three previously existing subcommittees. The District of Columbia, which had its own subcommittee in the 109^th Congress, was placed under the purview of the FSGG Subcommittee, as were four independent agencies that had been under the jurisdiction of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.⁴ Additionally, most of the agencies that had been under the jurisdiction of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, the Judiciary, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies were assigned to the FSGG Subcommittee.⁵ As a result of this reorganization, the House and Senate FSGG Subcommittees have nearly identical jurisdictions.⁶

Overview

The Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bill includes funding for the Department of the Treasury, the Executive Office of the President (EOP), the judiciary, the District of Columbia, and more than two dozen independent agencies. For each title of the regular FSGG appropriations bill, Table 2 lists the enacted amounts for FY2010 and FY2011, the President's FY2012 request, and amounts approved by the House Appropriations Committee for FY2012.

FY2012 Appropriations by Title

Title I: The Department of the Treasury⁷

The Treasury Department performs a variety of critical governmental functions. They can be summarized as protecting the nation's financial system against a host of illicit activities (e.g., money laundering and terrorist financing), collecting tax revenue, enforcing tax laws, managing and accounting for federal debt, administering the federal government's finances, regulating financial institutions, and producing and distributing coins and currency.

At its most basic level of organization, Treasury consists of departmental offices and operating bureaus. In general, the offices are responsible for formulating and implementing policy initiatives and managing Treasury's operations, whereas the bureaus perform specific tasks assigned to Treasury, mainly through statutory mandates. In the past decade or so, the bureaus have accounted for more than 95% of the agency's funding and work force.

With one exception, the bureaus and offices can be divided into those engaged in financial management and regulation and those engaged in law enforcement. In recent decades, the Comptroller of the Currency, U.S. Mint, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Financial Management Service (FMS), Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD), Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI), and Office of Thrift Supervision have taken on responsibilities related to the management of the federal government's finances or the supervision and regulation of the U.S. financial system. In contrast, law enforcement arguably has been the primary focus of the responsibilities handled by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (ATB), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and the Treasury Forfeiture Fund. With the advent of the Department of Homeland Security in 2002, Treasury's direct involvement in law enforcement has shrunk considerably. An exception to this simplified dichotomy is the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), whose main responsibilities encompass both the collection of tax revenue and the enforcement of tax laws and regulations.

The operating budget for most Treasury bureaus and offices comes largely from annual appropriations. This is the case for the IRS, FMS, Bureau of Public Debt (BPD), FinCEN, ATB, Office of the Inspector General (OIG), Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), and the CDFI. By contrast, funding for the Treasury Franchise Fund, the U.S. Mint, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury, and the Office of Thrift Supervision stems from the fees they receive from the services and products they provide.

The President requested $14.04 billion in total for the Treasury Department for FY2012, an increase of $573 million over FY2010 enacted funding and $924 million above FY2011 enacted amounts. Table 3 lists the enacted amounts for FY2010 and FY2011, the President's FY2012 request, and amounts approved by the House Appropriations Committee for FY2012.

Title II: Executive Office of the President⁸

The FSGG appropriations bill provides funding for all but three offices under the EOP.⁹ The White House, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy are among the EOP offices funded through FSGG appropriations. Table 4 lists the enacted amounts for FY2010 and FY2011, the President's FY2012 request, and amounts approved by the House Appropriations Committee for FY2012.

Title III: The Judiciary¹⁰

Appropriations for the judiciary—about two-tenths of 1% (0.2%) of the entire federal budget—are divided into budget groups and accounts. Two accounts that fund the Supreme Court (salaries and expenses of the Court and expenditures for the care of its building and grounds) together total about 1% of the total judiciary budget. The structural and mechanical care of the Supreme Court building, and care of its grounds, are the responsibility of the Architect of the Capitol. The rest of the judiciary's budget provides funding for the "lower" federal courts and related judicial services. The largest account, about 73% of the total budget—the Salaries and Expenses account for the U.S. Courts of Appeals, District Courts, and Other Judicial Services—covers the salaries of circuit and district judges (including judges of the territorial courts of the United States), justices and judges retired from office or from regular active service, judges of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, bankruptcy judges, magistrate judges, and other officers and employees of the federal judiciary not specifically provided for by other accounts. It also covers the necessary expenses of the courts. The remaining 26% of the judiciary budget is disbursed among these accounts: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, U.S. Court of International Trade, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Federal Judicial Center, U.S. Sentencing Commission, and Judicial Retirement Funds.

The judiciary budget does not fund three "special courts" in the U.S. court system: the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (funded in the Department of Defense appropriations bill), the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (funded in the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bill), and the U.S. Tax Court (funded under Independent Agencies, Title V, of the FSGG bill). Federal courthouse construction is funded within the General Services account under Independent Agencies, Title V, of the FSGG bill.

The judiciary also uses non-appropriated funds to offset its appropriations requirement. The majority of these non-appropriated funds are from fee collections, primarily from court filing fees. These monies are used to offset expenses within the Salaries and Expenses account. In some instances, the judiciary also has funds which may carry forward from one year to the next. These funds are considered "unencumbered" because they result from savings from the judiciary's financial plan in areas where budgeted costs did not materialize. According to the judiciary, such savings are usually not under its control (e.g., the judiciary has no control over the confirmation rate of Article III judges and must make its best estimate on the needed funds to budget for judgeships, rent costs based on delivery dates, and technology funding for certain programs).

The judiciary also has "encumbered" funds—no-year authority funds for specific purposes, which are used when planned expenses are delayed, from one year to the next (e.g., costs associated with space delivery, and certain technology needs and projects).¹¹

As a co-equal branch of government, the judiciary presents its budget to the President, who transmits it to Congress unaltered. The President's FY2012 budget request for $7.29 billion is $423 million more than appropriated for FY2010 and $387 million above FY2011 enacted amounts. Table 5 lists the enacted amounts for FY2010 and FY2011, the President's FY2012 request, and amounts approved by the House Appropriations Committee for FY2012.

Title IV: District of Columbia¹²

The authority for congressional review and approval of the District of Columbia's budget is derived from the Constitution and the District of Columbia Self-Government and Government Reorganization Act of 1973 (Home Rule Act).¹³ The Constitution gives Congress the power to "exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever" pertaining to the District of Columbia. In 1973, Congress granted the city limited home rule authority and empowered citizens of the District to elect a mayor and city council. However, Congress retained the authority to review and approve all District laws, including the District's annual budget. As required by the Home Rule Act, the city council must approve a budget within 56 days after receiving a budget proposal from the mayor.¹⁴ The approved budget must then be transmitted to the President, who forwards it to Congress for its review, modification, and approval.¹⁵

The President's FY2012 budget request includes $717 million for special federal payments to the District, a decrease of $35 million below FY2010 enacted levels and $17 million more than enacted in FY2011. Table 6 lists the enacted amounts for FY2010 and FY2011, the President's FY2012 request, and amounts approved by the House Appropriations Committee for FY2012.

Title V: Independent Agencies¹⁶

Title V provides funding for more than two dozen independent agencies which perform a wide range of functions, including the management of federal real property (GSA), the regulation of financial institutions (SEC), and mail delivery (USPS). The President's FY2012 budget request included $26.89 billion for independent agencies that receive their funding through the FSGG appropriations bill, an increase of $2.31 billion over FY2010 enacted levels and $3.59 billion below FY2011 enacted amounts. Table 7 lists the enacted amounts for FY2010 and FY2011, the President's FY2012 request, and amounts approved by the House Appropriations Committee for FY2012.

Key Policy Staff

Footnotes