Following are summaries of the Senate and House versions of the financial services-general government appropriations bill, the key annual spending measure for federal employee programs.
Senate:
Fiscal Year 2013 Base Discretionary Funding: $22.991 billion
Disaster Relief: +$167 million
Base Compared to President’s Request ($23.332 billion)……….(-$341 million) (1.5% decrease)
Base Compared to Fiscal Year 2012 Enacted ($21.731 billion)…+$1.26 billion (5.8% increase)
Bill Summary
Highlights of key funding recommendations:
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): The bill provides $1.566 billion, an increase of $245 million (19%) above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level, to enable the SEC to fulfill its mission to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation. This funding, fully offset by collection of securities transaction fees, supports increased legal and investigative staffing for oversight and enforcement responsibilities including significant new mandates under the Wall Street reform law, as well as substantial investments in IT upgrades.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC): The bill provides $308 million, an increase of $102.7 million (50%) above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level, to enable the CFTC to fulfill its mission to protect futures markets from fraud, manipulation, and abusive practices and foster open, competitive, and financially sound markets. The increase supports staffing increases and IT enhancements to meet significantly expanded responsibilities in implementing the mandates under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law including regulation and oversight of trading and clearance of over-the-counter derivatives.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS): The bill provides a total of $12.519 billion, an increase of $702 million (6%) above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and $242 million (1.9%) below the request. The recommended funding aims to restore severe cuts to taxpayer services and enforcement resources experienced in the previous two fiscal years that have hampered the IRS’s ability to respond to taxpayer inquiries and have undermined efforts to maximize revenue collection and narrow the tax gap. Resources provided will allow the IRS to meet an increasing demand for services and to make improvements that will permit taxpayers to access automated self-service applications including refund inquires, freeing staff to handle more complex tax law inquiries. Funds will also support an array of compliance activities to address offshore tax evasion, reduce the underreporting tax gap, combat tax-related identity theft, strengthen return preparer compliance, and restore revenue lost as a result of past reductions to examinations and collection programs.
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC): The bill provides $122.4 million, an increase of $7.9 million or 6.5% above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and the same as the budget request, to monitor the safety of consumer products and to pay for the headquarters relocation.
Small Business Administration (SBA): The bill provides $956.7 million for SBA, an increase of $38 million (4%) above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level. In addition to that amount, the bill includes $167 million, designated as disaster relief, for the administrative costs of the Disaster Loans Program. The recommendation ensures that small business lending remains at maximum levels and supports technical assistance for entrepreneurs seeking to start or grow a small business. The bill fully funds SBA’s business loans programs. The recommendation provides $114.75 million for Small Business Development Centers, an increase of $2.25 million (2%) to the fiscal year 2012 enacted level. The Senate bill also includes resources for the Microloan program ($25 million in microlending and $24 million in technical assistance), the Clusters program ($5 million), and the SCORE program ($7.14 million).
Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund: The bill provides $233 million, an increase of $12 million (5.4%) above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level of $221 million. The recommendation will continue critical seed funding that generates private investor confidence to support community development projects in our nation?s communities that are unserved or underserved by traditional financial institutions, including affordable housing developments, retail developments, community facilities such as day care centers, and small business loans. The recommendation includes $12 million for native CDFIs, $25 million for a healthy foods initiative, $20 million for the Bank On USA program, $18 million for the Bank Enterprise Awards program, and $2 million to enhance the CDFI Fund’s efforts to build the capacity of CDFIs to support entrepreneurial development, including small dollar lending. The bill also provides the authority for the CDFI program to administer the Bond Guarantee Program.
Treasury, Other: The bill provides $1.1 billion for other Treasury programs, including terrorism and financial intelligence programs, administration of federal disbursements such as Social Security payments, and the Special Inspector General for TARP. The recommended level is $25 million (2%) below the fiscal year 2012 enacted level due to identified efficiency savings.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC): The bill provides $347.8 million for the FCC, including $9.75 for the FCC Inspector General. The recommendation is $7.9 million (2.3%) above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level. The recommendation also authorizes the FCC to retain up to $99 million from auction proceeds to administer spectrum auctions and implement new legislation related to spectrum auctions.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC): The bill provides $300 million for the FTC, a decrease of $11.6 million (3.7%) to the fiscal year 2012 enacted level due to the completion of a multi-year project. The recommendation fully funds the FTC’s competition and consumer protection missions.
General Services Administration (GSA): The bill provides $56 million for construction and acquisition and $514.7 million for repair of federal buildings and courthouses.
Office of National Drug Control Policy (part of the Executive Office of the President): The bill provides $391.6 million, an increase of $34.4 million (8.8%) above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and $49.6 million (12.7%) above the budget request. For the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program, $238.5 million is provided, which is the same as the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and $38.5 million above the budget request. For the Drug-Free Communities Program, $95.1 million is provided, which is $3.1 million above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and $6.5 million above the request.
The Judiciary: The bill provides $7.16 billion in mandatory and discretionary funding for the Federal Courts, an increase of $194 million (2.7%) above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and $24.6 million (0.3%) below the budget request. The requested increases are primarily for the Courts’ mandatory programs, increased rental payments, and base requirements.
District of Columbia: The bill provides $676 million in Federal payments for designated purposes, an increase of $10.5 million above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level. Of the recommended Federal payments, $530 million (80%) is for the salaries and expenses of the local courts, defender services, and pre-trial and post-conviction offender supervision, all of which are fully dependent on Federal funds for their operations and independent of local government. The amount designated for the District government is $131 million, of which $88.6 million (67%) is for education-related functions (school improvement and D.C. Tuition Assistance Grants for post-secondary education). In addition, the bill includes $15 million for the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority Clean Rivers initiative, identical to the amount provided for fiscal year 2012.
Election Assistance Commission (EAC): The bill provides $11.5 million, the same as both the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and the budget request.
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA): The bill provides $371.8 million, including $5 million for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission grants program.
Office of Government Ethics (OGE): The bill provides $20.164 million, an increase of $6.5 million (48%) above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level to help address OGE’s expanded responsibilities to develop and deploy a centralized searchable and sortable public database of Executive Branch financial disclosure reports as required by the recently-enacted STOCK Act.
House:
The bill includes a total of $21.15 billion in funding for these agencies, which is $376 million below last year’s level and $2 billion below the President’s request. Compared to fiscal year 2010, the last year of Democrat control of Congress, the bill cuts $3 billion, or nearly 13%. When adjusted for inflation, the legislation is virtually equal to the 2008 funding level.
Department of the Treasury – The bill includes $12.3 billion for the Treasury Department, which is $77 million above last year’s level and nearly $952 million below the President’s request. However, in comparison, after adjusting for annual rescissions, the underlying bill is $43 million below fiscal year 2012.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) – Included in the bill is $11.8 billion for the IRS – the same as last year’s level. The legislation does not provide any of the requested increases to implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), and prohibits transfers of funds between the Department of Health and Human Services and the IRS to implement PPACA.
Executive Office of the President (EOP) – The legislation contains $650 million for the EOP – a reduction of $9 million below last year’s level – and includes a reduction of all salaries and expense accounts within the office. The bill restores funding for drug control programs within the EOP, including $239 million for High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA), and $92 million for Drug Free Communities. In addition, the legislation requires reports from the EOP on several issues, including cost projections of implementing Dodd-Frank financial regulations, efforts to reduce regulatory burdens, and the effects of possible future sequestration budget cuts.
Small Business Administration (SBA) – The bill contains $1.2 billion for the SBA, an increase of $240 million above last year. Small businesses are the driver of the American economy, and SBA loans and programs play an important part in helping small businesses start and grow. To this end, the bill provides $1.5 billion in lending authority above the President’s request to support $17.5 billion in 7(a) business loans, and $7.5 billion of 504 loan activity. The legislation also fully funds disaster loan implementation costs, which will allow for a quick and efficient loan process when small businesses and individuals are hit by unexpected natural disasters.
Judiciary – Included in the bill is $6.5 billion for the Federal Courts – a decrease of $23 million below last year. Funding increases are provided for security requirements, while funding for court and chambers operations are reduced. The legislation also prohibits funding for circuit court judicial conferences.
District of Columbia – The bill contains a $667 million federal payment to the District of Columbia – virtually equal to last year’s level. This includes funding for important public safety and security programs, including the D.C. Superior Court and the Offender Supervision Agency. In addition, the bill includes $60 million – the full authorized level – for the SOAR Act, which provides scholarships to low-income students in DC to attend private schools.
The bill also maintains longstanding provisions prohibiting federal and local funds from being used for abortion, as well as prohibitions on federal funds from being used for needle exchange and medical marijuana programs in the District of Columbia.
General Services Administration (GSA) – The bill allows the GSA to spend $7.9 billion out of the Federal Buildings Fund, a cut of $101 million compared to last year’s level and $702 million below the President’s request. The legislation also reduces Federal Buildings Fund administrative expenses by 14%.
Given the GSA’s questionable spending of tax dollars, the bill includes several new, strong oversight measures, including quarterly spending reports, limits on cash awards to GSA employees, prohibitions on all travel and conferences that do not comply with the law or regulations, and an Inspector General report into procedures related to travel, conferences, and employee awards.
Other Independent Agencies –
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) – The CPSC is funded at $114.5 million in the bill, which is equal to last year’s level. The legislation also requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, which has been under scrutiny for mandating overly burdensome and potentially damaging regulations.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) – The bill includes a provision to change the funding source for the CFPB from the Federal Reserve to the Congressional Appropriations process, starting in fiscal year 2014. This will allow for increased accountability and transparency of the agency’s activities and use of tax dollars. The legislation also requires quarterly reports on CFPB’s activities and spending, and allows Congress to review any funding transfers the agency receives from the Federal Reserve.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – The bill contains $323 million for the FCC – a cut of $17 million below last year’s level.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – The bill provides $285.5 million for the FTC, which is $26 million below last year’s level.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – Included in the bill is $1.4 billion for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is $50 million above last year’s level. The legislation includes a prohibition on the SEC from spending any money out of its “reserve fund” – essentially a slush fund for SEC programs that Congress has not approved.
Other Legislative Provisions – The legislation contains several policy provisions, including:
A longstanding prohibition against the use of Federal funds for abortion within Federal employee health benefits;
A provision prohibiting funding for White House “czars” – specifically prohibiting czars related to health care, climate change, the auto industry, and urban affairs or any substantively similar positions;
A prohibition on funding to require entities applying for Federal contracts disclose campaign contributions.
