In recent decades, the Treasury Department has played four specific roles: (1) formulating,recommending, and implementing economic, financial, tax, and fiscal policies; (2) serving as thesole financial agent for the federal government; (3) enforcing federal financial, tax, counterfeiting,customs, tobacco, alcoholic beverage, and gun laws; and (4) producing postage stamps, currency,and coinage. The creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in late 2002 and its assumptionof the authorities and duties transferred to it by executive order in March 2003 drastically reshapedTreasury's functional profile. (2) While Treasury still exerts a strong influence over economicpolicymaking within the executive branch and still serves as the government's financial manager,revenue collector, and producer of currency and coinage, its role in law enforcement is much morecircumscribed. At its most basic level of organization, the department is comprised of departmental officesand operating bureaus. In general, the departmental offices are responsible for the formulation andimplementation of policy initiatives and the management of departmental operations; the operatingbureaus, in contrast, carry out specific tasks assigned to the department, largely through statutorymandates. The bureaus typically account for more than 95% of the department's personnel andfunding. With one notable exception, the bureaus may be divided into those focused on financialmatters and those engaged in law enforcement. In recent decades, the following Treasury bureaushave all contributed to the management of federal finances or the daily operation of the U.S.financial system: Comptroller of the Currency, U.S. Mint, Bureau of Engraving and Printing,Financial Management Service, Bureau of Public Debt, Community Development FinancialInstitutions Fund (CDFI), and Office of Thrift Supervision. At the same time, law enforcement hasbeen central to the main responsibilities assigned to the following current or former Treasurybureaus: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF), U.S. Secret Service, Federal LawEnforcement Training Center, U.S. Customs Service, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network(FinCEN), and Treasury Forfeiture Fund. The exception to this simplified dichotomy is the InternalRevenue Service (IRS), which is involved in both the collection of tax revenue and the enforcementof federal tax laws and regulations. As noted above, the creation of DHS greatly diminished Treasury's role in law enforcement. Under the law establishing DHS ( P.L. 107-296 ), the Secret Service, Customs Service, and FederalLaw Enforcement Training Center were transferred from Treasury to DHS, while the TreasuryForfeiture Fund and many of the law enforcement duties of BATF were transferred to the JusticeDepartment (DOJ). In addition, in January 2003, the Treasury Department established a new bureauto administer laws governing the use of alcohol and tobacco and implement regulations formerlyhandled by BATF: the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Its main tasks do not involvelaw enforcement: collecting alcohol and tobacco excise taxes, classifying those products for taxpurposes, and regulating the operations of industrial users of distilled spirits. The operations of most Treasury bureaus are funded through annual appropriations passedby Congress. This is true of the IRS, Financial Management Service, Bureau of the Public Debt,departmental offices, FinCEN, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, Office of InspectorGeneral, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), CDFI, and Treasury'sinternational programs. But a handful of bureaus finance their operations largely through thecollection of fees for the services and products they provide. This funding arrangement applies tothe Treasury Franchise Fund, U.S. Mint, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Office of theComptroller of the Currency, and the Office of Thrift Supervision. In FY2005, Treasury received $11.218 billion in appropriated funds, an amount that was1.1% more than it received in FY2004 (see Table 1 ). About 91% of these funds were used tofinance the operations of the IRS, whose budget was set at $10.236 billion. The remaining $982million was distributed in the following manner among Treasury's other bureaus and its departmentaloffices: departmental offices (including TFI), $156 million; OFAC, $22 million; department-widesystems and capital investments, $32 million; Office of Inspector General, $16 million; TIGTA,$128 million; Air Transportation Stabilization program, $2 million; CDFI, $55 million; Treasurybuilding and annex repair and restoration, $12 million; FinCEN, $72 million; Financial ManagementService, $229 million; Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, $82 million; and Bureau of thePublic Debt, $174 million. These amounts reflected an 0.83% across-the-board cut (or rescission)in non-defense discretionary spending that was included in the law funding the Treasury Departmentand most other federal agencies in FY2005: the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005 ( P.L.108-447 ). For FY2006, the Bush Administration asked Congress to provide $11.649 billion inappropriated funds for Treasury operations -- or 3.8% more than the amount enacted for FY2005 (see Table 1 ). Once again, the vast share of this requested amount was to go to the IRS, whose budgetwould have totaled $10.679 billion. The other departmental offices and bureaus would havereceived the following amounts: departmental offices, $195 million; departmental systems andcapital investments, $24 million; Office of Inspector General, $17 million; TIGTA, $133 million;Air Transportation Stabilization program, $3 million; CDFI, $8 million; Treasury building and annexrepair and restoration, $10 million; FinCEN, $74 million; Financial Management Service, $236million; Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, $62 million; and Bureau of the Public Debt,$177 million. All accounts -- except those for departmental systems and capital investments andTreasury building and annex repair and restoration -- would have been funded at higher levels thanin FY2005. The Administration also requested that funding for OFAC be treated not as a separateaccount but as part of the account for departmental offices. Under the Administration's budgetproposal, total full-time employment at Treasury was projected to rise to 113,242 from 113,002 inFY2005. (3) Congressional action on the Administration's budget request for FY2006 commenced in theHouse with a series of hearings held by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation,Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, and District of Columbia in March, April,May, and June of this year. On June 15, the Subcommittee approved by voice vote a measure( H.R. 3058 ) to provide funding for Treasury and a handful of other federal agencies inFY2006. The Appropriations Committee also voted by voice vote to report favorably ( H.Rept.109-153 ) to the House an amended version of H.R. 3058 on June 21. Following theconsideration of 48 amendments spread over two days of floor debate, the House approved themeasure on June 30 by a vote of 405 to 18 and sent it on to the Senate. As passed by the House, H.R. 3058 would have given Treasury $11.529 billionin funding for FY2006, or $311 million more than the amount enacted for FY2005 but $120 millionless than the amount requested by the Bush Administration. The IRS was to receive $10.556 billion,or $320 million more than its budget in FY2005 but $123 million less than the amount requested bythe Administration. The House denied a request by the Administration to combine funding fortaxpayer service, tax law enforcement, and information systems into a new single account for taxadministration and operations. In addition, H.R. 3058 would have increased funding inFY2006 relative to FY2005 for the following accounts and in the following amounts: Alcohol andTobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, +$9 million; the Financial Management Service, +$7 million;TIGTA, +$5 million; Bureau of the Public Debt, +$3 million; FinCEN, +$2 million; anddepartmental offices (which includes OFAC and TFI) and Office of Inspector General, +$1 million. Three accounts would have been funded at lower levels in FY2006 than in FY2005: department-wide systems and capital investments, -$11 million; Treasury building and annex repairand restoration, -$2 million; and CDFI, -$0.1 million. One current account would have received nofunding under the measure: the Air Transportation Stabilization program. In the Senate, the Appropriations Committee favorably reported ( S.Rept. 109-109 ) anamended version of H.R. 3058 as passed by the House by a vote of 28 to 0 on July 21. Following three days of debate and the consideration of over 130 amendments, the Senate approvedby a vote of 93 to 1 on October 20 a version of H.R. 3058 that differed in some importantways from the House-passed version. Under the version of H.R. 3058 approved by Senate, the Treasury Departmentwould have received $11.698 billion in funding in FY2006 -- or $480 million more than the amountenacted for FY2005, $49 million more than the amount requested by the Bush Administration, and$169 million more than the amount approved by the House.