Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) FY2019 Appropriations: Overview

Summary

The Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bill includes funding for the Department of the Treasury, the Executive Office of the President (EOP), the judiciary, the District of Columbia, and more than two dozen independent agencies. 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.

President Trump submitted his FY2019 budget request on February 12, 2018. The request included a total of $49.1 billion for agencies funded through the FSGG appropriations bill, including $282 million for the CFTC.

The House Committee on Appropriations reported a Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2019 (H.R. 6258, H.Rept. 115-792) on June 28, 2018. Total FY2018 funding in the reported bill would be $45.7 billion, with another $255 million for the CFTC included in the Agriculture appropriations bill (H.R. 5961, H.Rept. 115-706). The combined total of $45.9 billion would be about $3.2 billion below the President’s FY2019 request, with the largest difference in the funding for the General Services Administration (GSA) and in government-wide transfers (Section 737).

H.R. 6258 was included as Division B of H.R. 6147, the interior appropriations bill, when it was considered by the House of Representatives beginning on July 17, 2018. The bill was amended numerous times, shifting funding among FSGG agencies but not changing the FSGG totals. H.R. 6147 passed the House on July 19, 2018.

The Senate Committee on Appropriations reported a Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2019 (S. 3107, S.Rept. 115-281) on June 28, 2018. Funding in S. 3107 totaled $45.9 billion, about $3.2 billion below the President’s FY2018 request, with the largest difference in the funding for the GSA and in government-wide transfers (Section 737).

The Senate began floor consideration of H.R. 6147 on July 24, 2018, including the text of S. 3107 as Division B of the amendment in the nature of a substitute (S.Amdt. 3399). The Senate passed its version of H.R. 6147 on August 1, 2018.

Although financial services are a major focus of the FSGG appropriations bills, these bills do not include funding for many financial regulatory agencies, which are funded outside of the appropriations process. The FSGG bills do, however, often contain additional legislative provisions relating to such agencies, as is the case with H.R. 6258/H.R. 6147, which contains language from a number of different bills relating to financial regulation that had previously passed the House.