Appropriations Subcommittee Passes Republican Financial Services Bill Undermines Hardworking Families and Makes Communities Less Safe

WASHINGTON — During today’s House Appropriations Subcommittee markup of the 2024 Financial Services and General Government funding bill, House Republicans passed a bill that benefits scammers, fraudsters, and cheaters and enables individuals to take advantage of hardworking people, commit fraud, and sell dangerous products.

With $13.4 billion in rescissions from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and General Services Administration (GSA) green-building funds, the draft bill includes a comparable total of $24.7 billion* which is $2.5 billion below the 2023 level. The allocation is 58 percent below 2023.

The legislation benefits scammers, fraudsters, and cheaters—billionaires, big corporations, and the well-connected—at the expense of hardworking Americans by:

• Enabling individuals to sell dangerous products with cuts to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC) including unsafe products for children.
• Leaving seniors vulnerable to losing their life savings to scams by cutting the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
• Increasing robocalls by cutting funding for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
• Drastically underfunding the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) tasked with making sure markets are fair and protecting investors from bad actors.
• Making our elections less secure with no funding for Election Security Grants.
• Including approximately 50 new, problematic or pointless policy riders on topics such as the IRS Free File, SEC’s climate disclosure rule, diversity and inclusion, telework, gender-affirming care, and abortion. Additionally, instead of addressing the issues that matter most to the American people, House Republicans are micromanaging the District of Columbia (D.C.)’s health and traffic laws.

“From undermining protections for consumers to limiting our ability to enforce sanctions against countries like Russia and China, this bill has dire consequences for America,” Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Steny Hoyer (D-MD-05) said. “I am appalled by Republicans’ proposal to cut FSGG funding by 58%. This extreme, unrealistic measure would severely undermine key agencies like the IRS, the Election Assistance Commission, and the FBI headquarters. Republicans ought to honor the compromise agreement that averted their near default instead of further derailing our appropriations process with a pretend bill they know will never become law.”

Congressman Hoyer’s full remarks are here.

“Instead of cracking down on big corporations and billionaires—many currently paying no taxes at all—House Republicans want to make it easier for scammers, fraudsters, and cheaters to prey on hardworking Americans,” said Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said. “This bill will allow unsafe products to be sold to children, leave seniors vulnerable to losing their life savings to scammers, increase robocalls, make our elections less safe, and allow fraudulent and unlawful actions taken by big corporations and other bad actors to go unchecked. Republicans are protecting tax cheats while complaining we have a deficit problem. This bill is just another Republican wish list to appease the most extreme members of their party and has no chance of becoming law.”

Congresswoman DeLauro’s full remarks as prepared for delivery are here.

Key provisions of the bill can be found here. The text of the draft bill is here.

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