A summary of the bill is below:
"This year's appropriations bill continues to ensure that the nationss consumer and investor protection agencies have the tools and resources necessary to protect Americans," said Senator Dick Durbin, Chairman of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee. "The passage of the Wall Street reform bill expands responsibilities and important roles for the SEC, CFTC and this bill provides the funding to continue this much needed reform. Once again our bill is both fiscally responsible and transparent and does a great deal with increasingly scarce resources."
Full Opening Statement by Senator Durbin
FY 2012 Discretionary Funding: $21.731 billion
Disaster Relief: +$167.3 million
Compared to President's Request ($25.991 billion) (- $4.259 billion) (16.4 % decrease)
Compared to FY 2011 Enacted ($21.955 billion) (-$224 million) (1% decrease)
This bill reflects reductions below the Fiscal Year 2011 funding level in many programs. In making these difficult funding decisions, programs related to implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial reforms were prioritized. Summaries of funding decisions are below.
Bill Summary
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): The Senate bill provides $1.407 billion, an increase of $222 million (19%) above the FY11 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 Senate bill provides $240 million, an increase of $37.7 million (18%) over the FY11 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 mandates under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law including regulation and oversight of trading and clearance of over-the-counter derivatives.
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC): The Senate bill provides $114.5 million, a decrease of $0.3 million or 0.3% below the FY11 enacted level, to monitor the safety of consumer products.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS): The Senate bill provides a total of $11.663 billion, a decrease of $458.8 million (3.8%) below the FY11 enacted level. Within the account, $330.2 million, an increase of $66.8 million (25.4%) above the FY11 enacted level, is provided for Business Systems Modernization. These funds will support completion for the 2012 tax filing season of the migration from obsolete legacy systems to a state-of-the-art data system with capacity for daily posting, expedited refund processing, and enhanced customer service.
Community Development Financial Institutions Fund: The Senate bill provides $200 million, a decrease of $27 million (11.7%) below the FY11 enacted level of $227M. 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.
Small Business Administration (SBA): The Senate bill provides $788 million for SBA, an increase of $58 million (8%) above the FY11 enacted level. 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 Senate bill eliminates the PRIME program for a savings of $8 million compared to the FY11 enacted level, focusing resources on the Microloan program to foster the availability of microcredit for small businesses. The recommendation provides $113 million for Small Business Development Centers, equal to the FY11 enacted level.
Treasury, Other: The Senate bill provides $972 million 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 $23 million below the FY11 enacted level due to identified efficiency savings.
Office of National Drug Control Policy (part of the Executive Office of the President): The Senate bill provides $359.3 million, which is $47 million (13%) below the FY11 enacted level. $238.5 million is provided for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program, the same as the FY11 enacted level. $92.6 million is provided for the Drug-Free Communities Program, $2.2 million (2.4%) below the FY11 enacted level. Due to funding constraints and mixed reviews, the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign is eliminated (funded at $35 million in FY11).
The Judiciary: The Senate bill provides $6.93 billion in mandatory and discretionary funding for the Federal Courts, an increase of $26.7 million or 0.4% above the FY11 enacted level. While this represents an overall increase for the Courts, in reality, most accounts within the Judiciary are cut below last year's level. The increases are for the Courts' mandatory programs (as requested) as well as in certain areas such as security. In addition, these funds will help mitigate:
- the loss of staff in court offices, probation, and pretrial services offices;
- the inability to provide payments to panel attorneys for the full year;
- the suspension of civil jury trials before the end of the year.
The Judiciary is one of the largest accounts in the FSGG bill, requiring sizeable increases each year just to maintain current operations. The Subcommittee recognizes these needs and the importance of maintaining adequate court operations, and has accommodated these needs as much as possible, while balancing other priorities.
District of Columbia: The Senate bill provides $658.1 million in Federal payments for designated purposes, a decrease of $40.6 million (5.8%) below the FY11 enacted level. Of the recommended Federal payments, $535.5 million (84%) 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 $122.6 million, of which $90 million (73%) is for education-related functions (school improvement and D.C. Tuition Assistance Grants for post-secondary education).
Election Assistance Commission (EAC): The Senate bill provides $14.8 million, a decrease of $1.5 million or 10.3% below the FY11 level.
General Services Administration (GSA): The Senate bill provides $65 million for construction and acquisition and $280 million for repair of federal buildings and courthouses. Funding in the amount of $4.6 million for policy and operations is rescinded.
Office of Special Counsel (OSC): The Senate bill provides $18.97 million, an increase of $514,000 (2.7%) over the FY11 enacted level to help address staffing needs to meet expanded responsibilities to protect the reemployment rights of veterans returning from active duty.
