Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) FY2020 Appropriations: Overview

November 30, 2020 R46620

Financial Services and General Government
November 30, 2020
(FSGG) FY2020 Appropriations: Overview
Baird Webel
The Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bill includes funding for
Acting Section Research
the Department of the Treasury, the Executive Office of the President, the judiciary, the District
Manager
of Columbia, and more than two dozen independent agencies. The House and Senate FSGG bills

fund the same agencies, with one exception. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission
(CFTC) is usually funded through the Agriculture appropriations bill in the House and the FSGG

bill in the Senate.
President Trump submitted his FY2020 budget request on March 11, 2019. The request included a total of $47.1 billion for
agencies funded through the FSGG appropriations bill, including $315 million for the CFTC.
The House Committee on Appropriations reported a Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2020
(H.R. 3351; H.Rept. 116-122), on June 19, 2019. Total FY2020 funding in the reported bill would have been $47.3 billion,
with another $315 million for the CFTC included in the Agriculture appropriations bill (H.R. 3164; H.Rept. 116-107). The
combined total of $47.6 billion would have been about $0.5 billion above the President’s FY2020 request. The House passed
H.R. 3351 on June 26, 2019.
The Senate Committee on Appropriations reported a Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2020
(S. 2524; S.Rept. 116-111), on September 19, 2019. Total FY2020 funding in the reported bill would have been $46.7 billion,
about $0.4 billion below the President’s FY2020 request. The full Senate did not consider S. 2524.
No appropriations bills were enacted prior to the start of FY2020. Instead, multiple continuing resolutions were passed (P.L.
116-59 and P.L. 116-69) that generally maintained FSGG funding based on FY2019 levels.
Full FY2020 FSGG funding was provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (P.L. 116-93), enacted on December
20, 2019. FSGG appropriations were included as Division C, with the CFTC funded in the Agriculture appropriations in
Division B of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (P.L. 116-94). Combined FY2020 enacted appropriations
totaled $46.6 billion for the FSGG agencies, $0.5 billion below the original request.
With the onset of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Congress passed several emergency supplemental
bills (P.L. 116-123, P.L. 116-127, P.L. 116-136, and P.L. 116-139) to address the pandemic, providing nearly $64 billion in
appropriated funding to FSGG agencies, particularly the Small Business Administration.
Although financial services are a major focus of the FSGG appropriations bills, these bills do not include funding for many
financial regulatory agencies, which are funded outside of the appropriations process. The FSGG bills do, however, often
contain additional legislative provisions relating to such agencies. The President’s budget request for FY2020 proposed that
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau funding be provided by congressional appropriations rather than transfer from the
Federal Reserve, but this change was explicitly rejected in the House committee report.

Congressional Research Service

Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) FY2020 Appropriations: Overview

he Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bil includes
funding for the Department of the Treasury (Title I), the Executive Office of the President
T (Title II), the judiciary (Title III), the District of Columbia (Title IV), and more than two
dozen independent agencies (Title V). The bil typical y funds mandatory retirement accounts in
Title VI, which also contains additional general provisions applying to the funding provided to
agencies through the FSGG bil . Title VII typical y contains general provisions applying
government-wide.
The House and Senate FSGG bil s fund the same agencies, with one exception. The Commodity
Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is funded through the Agriculture appropriations bil in the
House and the FSGG bil in the Senate. Where the CFTC is funded upon enactment depends on
which chamber originated the law, which typical y alternates annual y. Thus, the enacted amounts
for the CFTC are typical y in the Agriculture appropriations bil one year and the FSGG
appropriations bil the following year.
This structure has existed in its current form since the 2007 reorganization of the House and
Senate Committees on Appropriations. Although financial services are a major focus of the FSGG
appropriations bil , the bil does not include funding for many financial regulatory agencies,
which instead are funded outside of the appropriations process. It is not uncommon for legislative
provisions addressing various financial regulatory issues to be included in titles at the end of the
bil .
Administration and Congressional Action
President Trump submitted his FY2020 budget request on March 11, 2019. The request included
a total of $47.1 bil ion for agencies funded through the FSGG appropriations bil , including $315
mil ion for the CFTC.1
The House Committee on Appropriations reported a Financial Services and General Government
Appropriations Act, 2020 (H.R. 3351) on June 19, 2019.2 Total FY2020 funding in the reported
bil would have been $47.3 bil ion, with another $315 mil ion for the CFTC included in the
Agriculture appropriations bil (H.R. 3164).3 The combined total of $47.6 bil ion would have
been about $0.5 bil ion above the President’s FY2020 request. H.R. 3351 was considered in the
House beginning June 25, 2019, with several amendments passed to shift a total of $17.5 mil ion
among the FSGG accounts without affecting the overal totals.4 The House passed H.R. 3351 on
June 26, 2019.
The Senate Committee on Appropriations reported a Financial Services and General Government
Appropriations Act, 2020 (S. 2524) on September 19, 2019.5 Total FY2020 funding in the

1 T he President’s budget does not total the requested amounts according to the congressional appropriations structure.
T his total amount is as reported in H.Rept. 116-122 and S.Rept. 116-111.
2 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Appropriations, Financial Services and General Government Appropriations
Bill, 2020, report to accompany H.R. 3351, 116th Cong., 1st sess., June 19, 2019, H.Rept. 116-122 (Washington: GPO,
2019).
3 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Appropriations, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug
Adm inistration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2020 , report to accompany H.R. 3164, 116th Cong., 1st sess.,
June 4, 2019, H.Rept. 116-107 (Washington: GPO, 2019).
4 Amendments passed included H.Amdt. 435, H.Amdt. 495, H.Amdt. 498, H.Amdt. 499, H.Amdt. 500, H.Amdt. 501,
and H.Amdt. 502.
5 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Financial Services and General Government Appropriations
Bill, 2020, report to accompany S. 2524, 116th Cong., 1st sess., September 19, 2019, S.Rept. 116-111 (Washington:
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reported bil would have been $46.7 bil ion, about $0.4 bil ion below the President’s FY2020
request. The full Senate did not consider S. 2524.
No appropriations bil s were enacted prior to the start of FY2020. Instead, multiple continuing
resolutions were passed (P.L. 116-59 and P.L. 116-69) that general y maintained FSGG funding
based on FY2019 levels.6
Full FY2020 FSGG funding was provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (P.L.
116-93), enacted on December 20, 2019. FSGG appropriations were included as Division C, with
the CFTC funded in the Agriculture appropriations in Division B of the Further Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2020 (P.L. 116-94). Combined FY2020 enacted appropriations totaled $46.6
bil ion for the FSGG agencies, $0.5 bil ion below the original request.
With the onset of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic, Congress passed several emergency
supplemental bil s (P.L. 116-123, P.L. 116-127, P.L. 116-136, and P.L. 116-139) to address the
pandemic, providing nearly $64 bil ion in appropriated funding to FSGG agencies, particularly
the Smal Business Administration.7
Table 1 below reflects the status of FY2020 FSGG appropriations measures at key points in the
appropriations process in the 116th Congress. Table 2 lists the broad amounts requested by the
President and included in the various FSGG bil s, largely by title, and Table 3 details the amounts
for the independent agencies. Specific columns in Table 2 and Table 3 are FSGG agencies’
enacted amounts for FY2019, the President’s FY2020 request, the FY2020 amounts from the
House-passed and Senate committee bil s, the initial FY2020 enacted amounts from P.L. 116-93,
and the final enacted amounts including P.L. 116-123, P.L. 116-127, P.L. 116-136, and P.L. 116-
139.
Table 1. Status of FY2020 Financial Services and
General Government (FSGG) Appropriations
Subcommittee
Markup
Final Adoption
House
House
Senate
Senate
Conference
Enact-
House
Senate
Report Passage
Report Passage
Report
House
Senate
ment
June 3,
Sept. 17,
June 19,
June 26,
Sept. 19,
Dec. 17,
Dec. 19,
Dec 20,
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019
—
—
2019
2019
2019
Source: Prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
Table 2. FSGG Appropriations, FY2019-FY2020
(in mil ions of dol ars)
FY2020
FY2020
FY2020
FY2020
FY2019
FY2020
House-
Senate
Initial
Final
Agency
Enacted
Request
Passed
Committee
Enacted
Enacted
Department of the
12,761
13,071
13,573
12,866
13,058
13,323
Treasury

GPO, 2019).
6 For more information on the continuing resolutions, see CRS Report R45982, Overview of Continuing Appropriations
for FY2020 (P.L. 116-59), by James V. Saturno and Kate P . McClanahan.
7 Supplemental funding detail can be found on pp 181-184 of the FY2021 House committee report . See U.S. Congress,
House Committee on Appropriations, Financial Services and General Governm ent Appropriations Bill, 2021 , report to
accompany H.R. 7668, 114th Cong., 2nd sess., July 17, 2020, H.Rept. 116-456 (Washington: GPO, 2020).
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FY2020
FY2020
FY2020
FY2020
FY2019
FY2020
House-
Senate
Initial
Final
Agency
Enacted
Request
Passed
Committee
Enacted
Enacted
Executive Office of the
739
331
740
718
727
727
President
Judiciary
7,691
8,043
7,929
7,836
7,905
7,912
District of Columbia
726
717
741
673
714
719
Independent Agencies
2,035
3,030
2,700
2,672
2,308
65,985
Mandatory Retirement
21,818
21,911
21,911
21,911
21,911
21,911
Accounts
Total
45,770
47,101
47,594
46,675
46,623
110,578
Sources: P.L. 116-93 Explanatory Statement, H.Rept. 116-122, H.R. 3351, S.Rept. 116-111, and H.Rept. 116-
456.
Notes: Totals may not sum due to rounding. Figures are net reflecting rescissions and offsetting col ections.
Totals for each column include funding for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The CFTC is
funded in the House through the Agriculture appropriations bil and in the Senate through the FSGG bil .
The mandatory spending for the President’s salary is contained in Section 619, whereas the rest of presidential
spending is in Title II.
The “Mandatory Retirement Accounts” amount stems from Section 619.
The “Independent Agencies” funding is primarily in Title V but also reflects funding or rescissions for the Public
Company Accounting Oversight Board scholarships, the Oversight.gov website (Inspectors General Council
Fund), and the Smal Business Administration in Title VI, as wel as for the Office of Personnel Management or
General Services Administration in Title VII.
Table 3. FSGG Independent Agencies Appropriations, FY2019-FY2020
(in mil ions of dol ars)
FY2020
FY2020
FY2020
FY2020
FY2019
FY2020
House-
Senate
Initial
Final
Agency
Enacted
Request
Passed
Committee
Enacted
Enacted
Administrative Conference of the
3.1
3.1
3.1
3.3
3.3
3.3
United States
Commodity Futures Trading
268.0
315.0
315.0
305.0
315.0
315.0
Commissiona
Consumer Product Safety Commission
127.0
127.0
135.5
127.0
132.5
132.5
Election Assistance Commission
9.2
12
616.2
262
440.2
840.2
Federal Communications Commissionb
(399)
(335.6)
(339)
(339)
(339)
200.0
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation:
(43.0)
(43.0)
(43.0)
(43.0)
(43.0)
(43.0)
Office of Inspector Generalc
Federal Election Commission
71.3
70.5
71.5
70.5
71.5
71.5
Federal Labor Relations Authority
26.2
24.9
24.9
24.9
24.9
24.9
Federal Permitting Improvement
—
—
—
9.1
8.0
8.0
Steering Council
Federal Trade Commission
156.7
153.3
190.7
153.3
172.0
172.0
General Services Administrationd
-547.0
796.1
-865.7
-361.8
-1060.9
-765.7
Harry S. Truman Scholarship
1.0
—
1.7
1.7
1.7
1.7
Foundation
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FY2020
FY2020
FY2020
FY2020
FY2019
FY2020
House-
Senate
Initial
Final
Agency
Enacted
Request
Passed
Committee
Enacted
Enacted
Inspectors General Council Fund
2.0
—
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
(Oversight.gov)
Merit Systems Protection Board
46.8
42.3
46.8
42.3
46.8
46.8
Morris K. Udal Foundation
5.1
5.0
5.0
4.9
5.0
5.0
National Archives and Records
364.1
357.9
374.0
375.3
377.8
385.9
Administratione
National Credit Union Administration
2.0
—
2.0
—
1.5
1.5
Office of Government Ethics
17.0
17.4
17.4
17.0
17.5
17.5
Office of Personnel Management
295.9
—
337.3
337.3
328.0
420.1
(discretionary)
Office of Special Counsel
26.5
26.3
28.0
26.5
27.5
27.5
Postal Regulatory Commission
15.2
16.6
16.6
16.6
16.6
16.6
Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight
5.0
8.5
7.5
8.0
8.2
8.2
Board
Public Building Reform Board
—
3.5
—
1.0
—
—
Public Company Accounting Oversight
1.0
-5.0
-1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
Board Scholarships
Securities and Exchange Commissionb
(1,712.1)
(1,756.5)
(1,860.5)
(1,766.5)
(1825.5)
(1,825.5)
Selective Service System
26.0
25.0
24.5
26.0
27.1
27.1
Smal Business Administration (SBA)
806.6
668.1
1001.8
859.1
998.5
63,680.5
SBA Prior Year Rescission
-50.0
—
-16.4
—
-16.4
-16.4
United States Postal Service (USPS)
55.2
56.7
56.7
56.7
56.7
56.7
USPS Office of Inspector General
250.0
250.0
252.0
250.0
250.0
250.0
United States Tax Court
51.5
55.6
53.6
54.5
53.0
53.0
Total: Independent Agencies (net
2035.5
3029.7
2384.7
2672.3
2,308.0
65,985.4
discretionary)
Sources: P.L. 116-93 Explanatory Statement, H.Rept. 116-122, H.R. 3351, S.Rept. 116-111, and H.Rept. 116-
456.
Notes: Al figures are rounded to the nearest one hundred thousand dol ars. Columns may not sum due to
rounding. Figures in parentheses reflect offsetting col ections and are not totaled. The funding for these agencies
is primarily in Title V, but the table also reflects funding or rescissions for the Public Company Accounting
Oversight Board scholarships (Section 620), the Oversight.gov website (Inspectors General Council Fund,
Section 631), the Smal Business Administration (Section 635), the Office of Personnel Management (Section
734), and the Commission on Federal Naming and Displays (Section 754).
a. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is funded in the House through the Agriculture
appropriations bil and in the Senate through the FSGG bil .
b. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are
funded by col ecting regulatory fees, often resulting in no direct appropriations. Therefore, the amounts
shown for the FCC and SEC represent budgetary resources, but those amounts are not included in the
table totals. The SEC reserve fund reduction is contained in the general provisions in Title VI rather than
with the agency funding in Title V and is reflected in the totals.
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Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) FY2020 Appropriations: Overview

c. Budget authority transferred to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Office of Inspector General is
not included in total FSGG appropriations; it is counted as part of the budget authority in the
appropriations account from which it came.
d. The General Services Administration’s (GSA’s) real property activities are funded through the Federal
Buildings Fund (FBF), a multibil ion-dol ar revolving fund into which federal agencies deposit rental payments
for leased GSA space. Congress makes the FBF revenue available each year to pay for GSA’s real property
activities. A negative total for the FBF occurs when the amount of funds made available for expenditure in a
fiscal year is less than the amount of new revenue expected to be deposited.
e. Amount as shown in the committee reports. Figures do not include appropriations for repayments of
principal on the construction of the Archives II facility. The amount included in the President’s budget
request and the specific appropriations bil s includes this principal repayment.
Financial Regulatory Agencies and FSGG
Appropriations
Although financial services are a focus of the FSGG bil , the bil does not actual y include
funding for the regulation of much of the financial services industry.8 Financial services as an
industry is often subdivided into banking, insurance, and securities. Federal regulation of the
banking industry is divided among the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC), the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, and the Bureau of Consumer
Financial Protection (general y known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB). 9
In addition, credit unions, which operate in a way that is similar to many banks, are regulated by
the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). None of these agencies receives its primary
funding through the appropriations process, with only the FDIC inspector general and a smal
program operated by the NCUA currently funded in the FSGG bil .
Insurance is general y regulated at the state level, with some oversight at the holding company
level by the Federal Reserve. There is a relatively smal Federal Insurance Office (FIO) inside the
Treasury, which is funded through the Departmental Offices account, but FIO has no regulatory
authority.10
Federal securities regulation is divided between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
and the CFTC, both of which are funded through appropriations.11 The CFTC funding is a
relatively straightforward appropriation from the general fund, whereas the SEC funding is
provided by the FSGG bil but then offset through fees col ected by the SEC.
In FY2020, the President’s budget proposed that the funding for the CFPB be restructured.
Current funding through the Federal Reserve would be reduced in FY2020, and funding going
forward from FY2021 would be provided by congressional appropriations.12 This proposed

8 For a more complete discussion regarding the funding of financial regulators and general financial regulatory
structure, see CRS Report R43391, Independence of Federal Financial Regulators: Structure, Funding, a nd Other
Issues, by Henry B. Hogue, Marc Labonte, and Baird Webel; and CRS Report R44918, Who Regulates Whom ? An
Overview of the U.S. Financial Regulatory Fram ework, by Marc Labonte.
9 For more information on banking regulation, see CRS In Focus IF10035, Introduction to Financial Services: Banking,
by Raj Gnanarajah.
10 For more information, see CRS In Focus IF10043, Introduction to Financial Services: Insurance, by Baird Webel.
11 For more information, see CRS In Focus IF10032, Introduction to Financial Services: The Securities and Exchange
Com m ission (SEC), by Gary Shorter; and CRS In Focus IF10117, Introduction to Financial Services: Derivatives, by
Rena S. Miller.
12 See Office of Management and Budget, Major Savings and Reforms, Fiscal Year 2020, p. 185,
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET -2020-MSV/pdf/BUDGET -2020-MSV.pdf.
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Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) FY2020 Appropriations: Overview

change was specifical y rejected in the House committee report and was not included in House
legislation.13
Committee Structure and Scope
The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations reorganized their subcommittee structures
in early 2007. Each chamber created a new Financial Services and General Government
Subcommittee. In the House, the jurisdiction of the FSGG Subcommittee is composed 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.14 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: the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the SEC, and the Smal Business
Administration (SBA).
In the Senate, the jurisdiction of the new FSGG Subcommittee is a combination of agencies from
the jurisdiction of three previously existing subcommittees. Most of the agencies that had been
under the jurisdiction of the Transportation, Treasury, the Judiciary, and Housing and Urban
Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee were assigned to the FSGG Subcommittee.15
In addition, the District of Columbia, which had its own subcommittee in the 109th 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: the FCC, FTC, SEC, and SBA. As a result of this reorganization, the House and
Senate FSGG Subcommittees have nearly identical jurisdictions, except the CFTC is under the
jurisdiction of the FSGG Subcommittee in the Senate and the Agriculture Subcommittee in the
House.

Author Information

Baird Webel

Acting Section Research Manager

13 H.Rept. 116-122, p. 49.
14 T he agencies previously under the jurisdiction of T T HUD that did not become part of the FSGG Subcommittee were
the Department of T ransportation (DOT ), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the
Architectural and T ransportation Barriers Compliance Board, the Federal Maritime Commission, the National
T ransportation Safety Board, the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, and the United States Interagency Council
on Homelessness.
15 T he agencies that did not transfer from the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on T ransportation, Treasury, the
Judiciary, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies to the FSGG Subcommittee were DOT , HUD,
the Architectural and T ransportation Barriers Compliance Board, the Federal Maritime Commission, the National
T ransportation Safety Board, the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, and the United States Interagency Council
on Homelessness.
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Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) FY2020 Appropriations: Overview

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