Chairman Quigley Statement at Hearing on FY 2020 Treasury Department Budget Request

Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL), Chair of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the Subcommittee's hearing on the fiscal year 2020 budget request for the Department of the Treasury:

Today’s hearing is called to order—

This morning we welcome Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, to testify on the Department’s fiscal year 2020 budget request.  Mr. Secretary, thank you for being here today.

The FY20 budget for the Department of the Treasury is $12.7 billion, which is $62 million below the FY19 enacted level.  In addition, the budget proposes $362 million in BCA cap adjustment funding for IRS program integrity activities.

As in prior years, the request again proposes cuts to IRS that will reduce the resources available to support taxpayers and weaken the agency’s ability to protect the integrity of our tax system.

The request again proposes to eliminate funding for discretionary grant programs within the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund—and goes a step further by proposing to rescind $25 million in CDFI funding that Congress restored in the FY19 enacted bill.

And it again slashes funding for the Special Inspector General for TARP by 24 percent—despite the continued obligation of billions of dollars for TARP programs that will continue into 2023.

While there are many areas of concern in the Administration’s request, I do want to call attention to one bright spot.

I am pleased to see the budget includes increases for both the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

I look forward to hearing from you today on how the Department plans to use these funds—in addition to the significant increases that Congress appropriated in FY18 and FY19—to enhance efforts to combat terrorist financing and money laundering and to enforce economic and trade sanctions.

Lastly, I must take this opportunity to comment on the Department’s plan to divert up to $601 million from the Treasury Forfeiture Fund to pay for the construction of physical barriers along the southern border.

I understand $242 million has already been transferred to the Department of Homeland Security.

This is $242 million that could have been used to augment IRS Criminal Investigations…

$242 million that could have been used to support Homeland Security Investigations into financial crimes, money laundering, human trafficking, and intellectual property theft…

$242 million that could have been spent on tools to help Coast Guard teams search for illegal drugs onboard vessels at sea….

The decision to redirect these funds towards border fencing recklessly undermines the ability of Treasury and Homeland Security to address known threats—and instead uses it for a symbolic campaign promise.

Before I turn to our witness for his statement, I would like to recognize Mr. Graves for his opening remarks.