Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) FY2017 Appropriations: Overview
Released: 2017-06-09T00:00:00

T he Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bill includes funding for the Department of the Treasury (Title I), the Executive Office of the President (EOP, Title II), the judiciary (Title III), the District of Columbia (Title IV), and more than two dozen independent agencies (Title V). The bill typically funds mandatory retirement accounts in Title VI, which also contains additional general provisions applying to the funding provided agencies through the FSGG bill. Title VII contains general provisions applying government-wide. The FSGG bills have often also contained provisions relating to U.S. policy toward Cuba.

The House and Senate FSGG bills fund the same agencies, with one exception. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is funded through the Agriculture appropriations bill in the House and the FSGG bill in the Senate. 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 bills, FSGG appropriations bills do not include many financial regulatory agencies, which are instead funded outside of the appropriations process.

Administration and Congressional Action

On February 9, 2016, then-President Obama submitted his FY2017 budget request. The request included a total of $46.5 billion for agencies funded through the FSGG appropriations bill, including $330 million for the CFTC.

On June 15, 2016, the House Committee on Appropriations reported a Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2017 ( H.R. 5485 , H.Rept. 114-624 ). Total FY2017 funding in the reported bill would have been $43.5 billion, with another $250 million for the CFTC included in the Agriculture appropriations bill ( H.R. 5054 , H.Rept. 114-531 ), which was reported on April 26, 2016. The combined total of $43.8 billion would have been about $2.8 billion below the President's FY2017 request with most of this difference in the funding for the Department of the Treasury and the General Services Administration (GSA). After a number of amendments on the floor, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5485 on July 7, 2016. Although funding was shifted among some FSGG agencies, the overall level remained unchanged.

On June 16, 2016, the Senate Committee on Appropriations reported the Financial Services and General Government Act, 2017 ( S. 3067 , S.Rept. 114-280 ). S. 3067 would have appropriated $44.4 billion for FY2017, about $2.2 billion below the President's request. As with the House bill, most of this difference is due to the Treasury and GSA.

Continuing Resolution8

With the end of FY2016 approaching and no permanent FSGG appropriations bill enacted, Congress passed, and the President signed, H.R. 5325 / P.L. 114-223 . Division C of this act provided for continuing appropriations through December 9, 2016, generally termed a continuing resolution (CR). The CR provides funding for most FSGG agencies at the FY2016 funding rate subject to an across-the-board decrease of 0.496% (pursuant to Section 101(b) of Division C). It also provides appropriations in the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act for all of FY2017 (Division A), as well as emergency funds to combat the Zika virus and provide relief for flood victims in Louisiana and other affected states (Division B). In addition to the funding for FSGG agencies as described, the CR contains a number of deviations from general formula. These "anomalies" focused on funding related to the presidential transition.

Two further CRs were enacted: P.L. 114-254 provided funding through April 28, 2017, and a third, P.L. 115-30 provided funding through May 5, 2017.

Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 (P.L. 115-31)

The House of Representatives passed H.R. 244 on May 3, 2017, followed by Senate passage on May 4 and enactment on May 5. FSGG appropriations, including the CFTC, were provided in Division E. FY2017 FSGG appropriations totaled $43.3 billion, approximately $3.2 billion below the President's request.

Table 1 reflects the status of FSGG appropriations measures at key points in the appropriations process. Table 2 lists the broad amounts requested by the President and included in the various FSGG bills, 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 FY2016, the President's FY2017 request, the FY2017 amounts from H.Rept. 114-624 and H.Rept. 114-531 , the FY2017 amounts from S.Rept. 114-280 , and the enacted FY2017 amounts from the Explanatory Statement in the Congressional Record.

Financial Regulatory Agencies and FSGG Appropriations

Although financial services are a focus of the FSGG bill, the bill does not actually include funding for the regulation of much of the financial services industry. 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 (OCC), and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (generally known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB). In addition, credit unions, which operate similarly 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 small program operated by the NCUA currently funded in the FSGG bill.

Insurance generally is regulated at the state level with some oversight at the holding company level by the Federal Reserve. There is a relatively small Federal Insurance Office (FIO) inside of the Treasury, which is funded through the Departmental Offices account, but FIO has no regulatory authority.

Federal securities regulation is divided between the SEC and the CFTC, both of which are funded through appropriations. The CFTC funding is a relatively straightforward appropriation from the general fund, whereas the SEC funding is provided by the FSGG bill, but then offset through fees collected by the SEC.

Although funding for many financial regulatory agencies may not be provided by the FSGG bill, legislative provisions that would affect some of these agencies have often been included. H.R. 5485 would change the funding procedure for the CFPB, with future funding to be provided by congressional appropriations rather than the current situation in which primary CFPB funding is provided through unappropriated funds transferred from the Federal Reserve. The House bill also includes other provisions that would amend the Dodd-Frank Act, such as changing the leadership of the CFPB to a five-person commission and changing the authority of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). Previous FSGG bills have also included similar Dodd-Frank Act changes that have proven controversial in the past.

P.L. 115-31 did not include the CFPB nor the FSOC provisions from H.R. 5485 .

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 comprised 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." 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 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Small Business Administration (SBA).

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: the FCC, FTC, SEC, and SBA. In addition, most of the agencies that had been under the jurisdiction of the TTHUD Subcommittee were assigned to the FSGG Subcommittee. As a result of this reorganization, the House and Senate FSGG Subcommittees have nearly identical jurisdictions, except that the CFTC is under the jurisdiction of the FSGG Subcommittee in the Senate and the Agriculture Subcommittee in the House.

CRS FSGG Appropriations Experts

Table 4 below lists various departments and agencies funded through FSGG appropriations and the names and contact information for the CRS expert(s) on these departments and agencies.