	The Department of the Treasury

This report examines FY2017 appropriations for the Treasury Department and its operating bureaus, including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). At its most basic level of organization, the Treasury Department is a collection of departmental offices and operating bureaus. The operating budgets for most Treasury bureaus and offices are funded largely through annual discretionary appropriations. This is true for the IRS, Bureau of the Fiscal Service, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, Office of the Inspector General, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, and Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. Treasury Appropriations Accounts and Their Purposes

Treasury appropriations in FY2016 were distributed among the following 11 accounts. Of the requested funding, $38 million would have gone to executive direction, $59 million to international affairs and economic policy, $76 million to domestic finance and tax policy, $117 million to TFI, and $43 million to Treasury management and related programs. It also incorporated decreases of $1.0 million from non-recurring expenses, $1.4 million from efficiency improvements; $7.0 million from covering Treasury's cost for administering the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund in through a withdrawal of $7.0 million from the Fund, and $3.0 million from transferring DO cybersecurity investments to a new account: the Cybersecurity Enhancement Account. 115-31

Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017, DO is receiving $224.4 million in appropriations, or $1.9 million more than the amount enacted for FY2016. Office of Inspector General

				Budget Request

The Obama Administration's FY2017 budget request for the Treasury Department included $37.0 million in appropriated funds for OIG or $1.6 million more than the amount enacted for FY2016. Bureau of the Fiscal Service

The President's budget request would have given the BFS $353.1 million in appropriations in FY2017, or $10.8 million less than the amount enacted for FY2016. Treasury Forfeiture Fund (TFF)

The Treasury Department's budget request for FY2017 would have canceled permanently $657.0 million in unobligated balances from the TFF. Of this amount, $2.469 billion was to go to taxpayer services, $5.216 billion to enforcement (including a $231.3 million program integrity cap adjustment under Section 251(b)(2) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 ( P.L. 5485

As passed by the House, the bill would have provided $10.999 billion in appropriations for the IRS in FY2017, or $236 million below the amount enacted for FY2016 and $1.281 billion below the budget request. Under H.R. S. 3067

The bill, as reported by the Senate Finance Committee, would have provided $11.235 billion in appropriations for the IRS in FY2017, or the same amount that was enacted for FY2016 but $1.045 billion less than the budget request. In reviewing future IRS budget requests, Congress may want to consider the advantages and disadvantages of paying for increases in IRS's enforcement activities through such an adjustment.
At its most basic level of organization, the Treasury Department is a collection of departmental offices and operating bureaus. The bureaus as a whole typically account for 95% of Treasury's budget and workforce. Most bureaus and offices are funded through annual appropriations.
Treasury appropriations are distributed among 12 accounts in FY2017: (1) Departmental Offices (DO), (2) Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI), (3) Cybersecurity Enhancement Account (CEA), (4) Department-wide Systems and Capital Investments Program (DSCIP), (5) Office of Inspector General (OIG), (6) Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), (7) Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), (8) Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), (9) Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS), (10) Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (ATTB), (11) Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFIF), and (12) the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The President's budget request for FY2017 called for the Treasury Department to receive $13.144 billion in appropriations, including a rescission of $657 million for the Treasury Forfeiture Fund (TFF). Of the requested funds, $12.280 billion would have gone to the IRS; $353 million to the BFS; $217 million to DO; $117 million to TFI; $246 million to CDFIF; $170 million to TIGTA; $115 million to FinCEN; $106 million to ATTB; $41 million to SIGTARP; $37 million to OIG; and $5 million to DSCIP.
In July 2016, the House approved a bill (H.R. 5485) providing appropriations for the Treasury Department and several other agencies in FY2017. Under the measure, Treasury would have received $11.694 billion in appropriations, including a rescission of $754 million from the TFF. This amount was $248 million less than the amount enacted for FY2016 and $1.450 billion less than the budget request.
During the previous month, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported a bill (S. 3067) to fund Treasury in FY2017. Under the measure, Treasury would have received $12.040 billion in appropriations, including a rescission of $657 million from the TFF. The recommended amount was $98 million below the amount enacted for FY2016 and $1.104 billion less than the budget request.
The congressional debate over funding for the IRS in FY2017 raised at least three issues: (1) the appropriate size of the IRS budget in light of recent budget cuts, (2) the advantages and disadvantages of using discretionary funding cap adjustments under the Balanced Budget Act of 2011 to pay for new IRS enforcement activities, and (3) the impact on the IRS budget of the budget scoring convention of disregarding the net revenue effect of agency administrative programs, including enforcement actions.
Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 (P.L. 115-31), the 12 Treasury appropriations accounts received the following amounts for FY2017: (1) DO: $224.4 million, (2) TFI: $123.0 million, (3) CEA: $47.7 million, (4) DSCIP: $3.0 million, (5) OIG: $37.0 million, (6) TIGTA: $169.6 million, (7) SIGTARP: $41.2 million, (8) FinCEN: $115.0 million, (9) BFS: $353.1 million, (10) ATTB: $111.4 million, (11) CDFIF: $248 million, and (12) IRS: $11.235 billion.