Funding the Treasury, Judiciary, White House, and Financial Regulators With $24.55 Billion for FY2020 (H.R. 3351)

What is H.R. 3351?

(Updated February 29, 2020)

This bill would provide $24.55 billion in FY2020 funding for agencies funded under the Financial Services & General Government appropriations title, which includes the Treasury, the Judiciary, the Small Business Administration, financial regulators, and other independent agencies. The total would represent an increase of $1.4 billion from the prior year and would include a 3.1% pay raise for federal civilian employees. A breakdown 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:

• $12 billion for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), an increase of $697 million from the prior year. Within this total, $5.2 billion would go to enforcement, $2.6 billion to taxpayer services, $4 billion for operation support, and $290 million for business systems modernization.

• $244 million, an increase of $29.8 million from the prior year, for departmental offices to manage a growing caseload associated with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., enhanced enforcement costs, and implementation of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018.

• $167.7 million for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, which combats terrorism financing and administers economic and trade sanctions — an increase of $8.7 million.

Judiciary: A total of $7.51 billion in discretionary FY2020 funds would be provided, an increase of $84 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 $995.8 million to provide assistance to small businesses, expand the economy, and promote job growth for unemployed & underemployed Americans. Authorized levels for the SBA’s business loans programs would be set at $30.5 billion for the 7(a) loan program and $8 billion for the 504/Certified Development Company program.

General Services Administration (GSA): This section would allow the GSA to spend $9.1 billion 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. It would include $248 million for the San Luis, Arizona Land Port of Entry and $85 million for the Calexico, California Land Port of Entry.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): This section would provide $1.85 billion in funding for the SEC, an increase of $175 million from the prior year. The additional funding would be targeted to enforcement, compliance, market oversight, and investor education and advocacy activities.

District of Columbia: This section would provide $741 million in federal payments to D.C., which would fund public safety and security costs, support the D.C. court system and its offender supervision program. It would also eliminate previous policy riders that banned the use of local funds for abortion services and marijuana legalization.

The Executive Office of the President would receive $741.8 million, an increase of $2.9 million from the prior year that matches the White House’s requested funding level (the increase is for the new Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator).

The Election Assistance Commission would receive $600 million for election security grants to improve the security and integrity of federal elections.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would receive $349.7 million in FY2020 funding, an increase of $40 million from the prior year to bolster anti-trust and consumer protection work.

Argument in favor

This bill includes many provisions with bipartisan support and would also put an end to harmful ideological riders that have long prevented the District of Columbia from using public funds to fund abortion services and legalize marijuana.

Argument opposed

This bill has no chance of becoming law because it contains too many partisan riders, including allowing the District of Columbia to use public funds to pay for abortions. House Democrats should instead work toward a bipartisan funding compromise for these agencies.

Impact

The Treasury, the Judiciary, the Small Business Administration, financial regulators, and other independent agencies funded under this title.

Cost of H.R. 3351

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) offered the following comment on her committee’s passage of the FY2020 Financial Services & General Government appropriations bill:

“House Democrats are fighting to ensure that America is safe, strong, and moving forward. With this bill’s investments in our financial regulators and small businesses, we can help improve the financial security of every family. And with funding for election security, we can safeguard our democracy.”

House Republicans opposed this bill in committee, with Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Kay Granger (R-TX) and Subcommittee Ranking Member Tom Graves (R-GA) accusing Democrats of using “an unrealistic topline spending level” because a bicameral spending deal hasn’t been reached. In the committee report, they added:

“We are also disappointed that the bill eliminates Congressional oversight of District of Columbia local funds and omits a long-standing prohibition on the use of local District of Columbia tax-payer funds for abortions.”

The House Appropriations Committee passed this bill on a party-line vote of 30-21.

Media:

• House Appropriations Committee Democrats Press Release

• House Appropriations Committee Passage Democratic Press Release

• House Appropriations Committee Report