$23.6 Billion to Fund the Treasury, the Judiciary, Financial Regulators, and the Small Business Administration (H.R. 264)

What is H.R. 264?

(Updated April 7, 2021)

This bill would provide $23.688 billion in fiscal year 2019 funding for the U.S. Treasury, the Judiciary, the Small Business Administration, several financial regulators, and other independent agencies. A summary of its various provisions can be found below.

Treasury Department

Funding for the Treasury Dept.’s various offices and entities would be broken down as follows:

• $11.2 billion for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), of which $77 million would be focused on implementing tax reform. The IRS would be prohibited from rehiring former employees unless their past conduct & tax compliance is considered, targeting individuals for exercising their First Amendment rights, prohibit the targeting of groups based on ideology, or producing inappropriate videos and conferences.

• $208.8 million, an increase of $8 million from the prior year, for departmental offices to manage a growing caseload associated with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.

• $159 milion for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, which combats terrorism financing and administers economic and trade sanctions -- an increase of $17.2 million.

Judiciary

A total of $7.251 billion in discretionary FY19 funds would be provided, an increase of $140 million from the prior year, to allow for timely and efficient processing of federal cases, court security, and defender services.

Small Business Administration (SBA)

The SBA would receive $699.3 million to provide assistance to small businesses, expand the economy, and promote job growth for unemployed & underemployed Americans. It’d fully fund business loans at $159.2 million, in addition to providing $130 million for Small Business Development Centers, $31 million for microloan technical assistance, $12.3 million for veterans outreach, and $11.5 million for the SCORE program.

General Services Administration (GSA)

This section would allow the GSA to spend $9.63 bllion out of the Federal Buildings Fund to provide for rent payments for offices leased by the federal government, operations & maintenance at properties owned by government agencies while $1.08 billion would go to construction. Maintenance, repairs, and alterations would be fully funded.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

This section would provide $1.695 billion in funding for the SEC, an amount equal to the prior year. It’d provide targeted funding for economic analysis within the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis.

District of Columbia

This section would provide $703.2 million in federal payments to DC, which would fund public safety and security costs, support the DC court system and its offender supervision program.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

The FTC would receive $309.7 million in FY19 funding, equal to the prior year.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

The FCC would receive $333.1 million in FY19 funding, equal to the prior year.

Miscellaneous:

• Pay raises for the Vice President and senior political appointees would be prohibited.

• Funding for grants or contracts to tax cheats and companies with felony criminal convictions would be prohibited.

• All departments and agencies would be required to link contracts that provide award fees to successful outcomes, and prohibit the use of funds to pay for award or incentive fees for contractors with below satisfactory performance.

• Funds would be prohibited from being used to paint portraits of federal employees, including elected officials.

• Agency inspectors general would be required to have timely access to agency documents and records.

• A 1.9% pay increase would be provided for civilian federal employees for the 2019 calendar year, an equal raise to 2018.

Argument in favor

This bill would fully fund crucial federal agencies like the Treasury Dept., the federal judiciary, and financial regulators that are currently impacted by the shutdown through September.

Argument opposed

While this bill may be bipartisan, it has no chance of becoming law unless a deal is struck on border security so Congress should focus on reaching an overarching funding compromise.

Impact

The Treasury & IRS; the judiciary; the FCC & FEC; financial regulators like the SEC; the SBA; the GSA; and the District of Columbia.

Cost of H.R. 264

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: House Appropriations Committee Chair Nita Lowey (D-NY) released the following statement about this financial services funding bill:

“This bill funds the Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service. Passing it will ensure hardworking families receive their tax refunds on schedule. Because of the Trump Shutdown, some of the most important activities funded in the Financial Services and General Government bill have ground to a halt.”

The Treasury Department announced that tax refunds will go out if the partial shutdown is still ongoing when tax filing season opens on January 28th.

President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have said that no funding bills will become law unless the $5.7 billion border security funding request is included. 

House Democrats passed a version of this bill as part of a $271 billion “minibus” funding package that funded all agencies impacted by the government shutdown (except for Homeland Security) on the first day of the 116th Congress.

A similar version of this legislation passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on a 31-0 vote as a standalone bill during the last Congress. It was then added to a broader “minibus” funding package that passed the Senate as a whole on a 92-6 vote.

Media:

• House Appropriations Committee Democrats Press Release
  
• Countable (Context)