Department of Treasury

The Department of the Treasury is at the forefront of the President’s efforts to promote the economic prosperity, fiscal stability, and financial security of the United States.  Treasury’s core operations include collecting over $2.94 trillion in revenues and other collections, disbursing over $2.3 trillion in payments, managing Federal finances, and protecting the financial system from a variety of threats.  Treasury also plays a key role in modernizing the Nation’s financial regulatory framework and ensuring effective, transparent administration of critical economic programs, such as consumer financial protection.  Further, Treasury has been instrumental in America’s economic recovery, fostering growth and job creation.  It will continue to administer roughly $300 billion in critical tax benefits provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and ensure robust program oversight in 2012 and beyond.

The President's 2012 Budget includes $14 billion for the Department. This is an increase of less than 1 percent from the 2011 Budget, largely to support new investments in IRS tax compliance activities that reduce the deficit and to support the implementation of new legislation, such as the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which is critical to protecting American families and our economy from future threats. Aside from these key investments, funding throughout the Department remains highly constrained at about 5 percent below the 2011 Budget and more than 1 percent below the 2010 enacted level, and cuts are made even to uniquely valuable programs like the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund.

Fosters a Stronger, Fairer Financial System for Growth and Competitiveness

• Supports implementation of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, including standing up the landmark Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that will transition to the Federal Reserve in 2011. CFPB will provide consumers the tools and information they need to make wise financial decisions and protect consumers in the financial products marketplace.
• Increases access to capital and job creation by implementing the Small Business Lending Fund.  The Fund is authorized to provide up to $30 billion in funding to community banks and offers incentives for these institutions to increase their small business lending portfolios; and the $1.5 billion State Small Business Credit Initiative, which will boost state-sponsored small business loan funds.
• Responsibly manages Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) investments to protect taxpayer interests while winding down extraordinary interventions in the financial market. The progressing economic recovery and prudent management of TARP have resulted in an estimated cost of $48 billion, significantly lower than the $341 billion cost estimated in the 2010 Budget Midsession Review or even the $114.5 billion cost estimated in the 2011 Budget Midsession Review.

Reduces Costs to Taxpayers and Improves Services through Reform

• Reduces spending on the CDFI Fund by $20 million from the 2010 enacted level, while continuing to expand job-creating investments and access to credit in disadvantaged communities.  This includes resources to support grants that expand financing for healthy food retailers in distressed communities as part of the Healthy Food Financing Initiative
• Achieves about $200 million in savings through administrative and overhead reductions, streamlining acquisition and procurement operations, reducing IT, contracting and other administrative costs and proposes to consolidate the Financial Management Service and Bureau of the Public Debt data centers. 
• Improves debt collection activities through common sense initiatives that will increase collection of unpaid debt by more than $5 billion over the next ten years from individuals and businesses that have failed to pay taxes or repay government loans, a significant portion of which will be returned to states.
• Modernizes the IRS to improve customer service and invests over $240 million in new tax compliance activities designed to reduce the tax gap (the difference between taxes owed and taxes paid) and boost tax collections by $1.3 billion per year by FY 2014.  The Budget also includes investments to increase the response rate to taxpayer inquiries, improve tax enforcement, and modernize IT systems to make interactions with the IRS quicker, smoother, and more effective.