Ranking Member Hoyer Statement at the Full Committee Markup of the 2025 Financial Services and General Government Funding Bill
Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD-05), Ranking Member of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the Appropriations Committee's markup of the fiscal year 2025 bill:
- As Prepared for Delivery –
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
This bill is a testament to how our appropriations process fails the American people.
In fiscal year 2024, FSGG received $26.5 billion, which was less than its fiscal year 23 allocation by a billion dollars.
This bill for FY 2025 funds it at $23.6 billion, $3.7 billion below FY 23.
That’s an 11 percent cut below the enacted FY 24, about 13.5 percent below FY 23, and a 20 percent cut below the president’s FY 24 request.
By not including the $75 billion in the so-called “side deal,” we have substantially disadvantaged non-defense discretionary spending – especially the agencies under FSGG’s jurisdiction.
Federal workers could face layoffs, hiring freezes, or furloughs.
Federal agencies will have greater difficulty enforcing our financial laws.
Crucially, the criminals who break those laws will have an easier time escaping justice.
This bill lets tax cheats off the hook by cutting IRS funding – all at the expense of hardworking Americans who dutifully pay their taxes.
The bill cuts IRS funding by $2.2 billion below the fiscal year 2024 level.
The agency’s enforcement efforts are hit particularly hard, receiving a $2 billion – or 37 percent – cut below last year’s appropriations.
These cuts cost far more than they save.
IRS data suggests that at its most productive, the agency generates between $5 and $9 in revenue for every $1 it spends on enforcement.
Harvard economists estimate that number is as high as $12 to $1 for enforcement of the top 10 percent of earners.
If my Republican colleagues want to address the debt, then they ought to give our government the resources it needs to collect legally owed revenue.
Their bill would also make it harder and more expensive for Americans to file their taxes by undermining the IRS new direct file program.
Our government legally requires Americans to pay their taxes.
It is only fair that we provide them with a free and easy way to do so.
These cuts are especially damaging because the IRS has been underfunded for years, as this graph shows.
As you can see, IRS funding – marked in orange – has remained flat even as the number of tax returns – marked in blue – has gone up.
The agency has more work and fewer people to do it.
Though nominally staying flat, IRS funding has actually gone down by 25 percent when we account for inflation – as the red line on this graph shows.
This next graph shows the consequences of these cuts.
The IRS examination rate of people making $1 million or more a year has plummeted from nine percent in 2010 to 0.69 percent in 2021.
Is it any wonder that we have a tax gap of $688 billion each year?
So much for reducing the debt.
Not only do we need to meet President Biden’s request to fund the IRS at 2024 levels – $3.1 billion more than what’s in this bill – but we must also secure additional funding to offset last year’s recission and years of underfunding before it.
In addition to tax cheats, this bill also aids and abets scammers, fraudsters, and those with predatory business practices.
It undermines the agencies tasked with protecting Americans from this type of exploitation and with promoting competition.
The Federal Trade Commission faces a $37 million – or 9 percent – cut beneath the enacted and a $146.3 million – or 28 percent – cut below the request.
Whether going after a supermarket monopoly inflating grocery costs or oil and gas companies gouging prices at the pump, the FTC is working to lower Americans’ costs.
Instead of talking about rising costs, my Republican friends ought to seize this opportunity to help us lower them by increasing funding for the FTC and other agencies that protect consumers and promote competition.
That includes respecting the supreme court’s recent seven-to-two decision, authored by Justice Thomas, that upheld the constitutionality of the consumer financial protection bureau’s independent funding structure.
This bill contradicts that decision and undermines the CFPB’s work to protect consumers from the same predatory practices that led to the great recession.
From the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, many other enforcement agencies also face cuts under this bill.
These cuts alone make this bill unacceptable.
The partisan riders attached to it only confirm that this legislation will never pass.
I am particularly incensed by those undermining D.C. home rule.
One rider would severely restrict women’s reproductive rights in the District against the wishes of its people.
Another would allow individuals to carry concealed weapons in the District and on WMATA if they have a permit in another state.
We’re told this bill is a starting point.
But, it is so draconian in its adverse impact that it’s a dead end, not a reasonable offer on which to base a compromise.
I applaud and support efforts to get all 12 appropriations bills passed through the house before the August break.
But, for that to be helpful, they needed to be reasonable.
The bills we are now marking up are not.
That’s sad, and that’s irresponsible.
This bill cannot become law.
Let’s work together on one that can.
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