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Washington, D.C. – The FY 2008 Senate Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill funds the Department of the Treasury, Executive Office of the President, Judiciary, District of Columbia and various independent agencies including General Services Administration and the Securities and Exchange Commission. This year marks the debut of the bill, which combines agencies and programs previously addressed in other bills such as the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies bill and the District of Columbia bill. The Senate Appropriations Committee allocated $44.2 billion in both discretionary and mandatory spending, $414 million more than the administration request and $423 more than the House appropriation. The bill contains 104 earmarks worth $1.75 billion, all attached to the Small Business Administration, National Archives and Records Administration and the General Services Administrations’ Federal Buildings Fund. $1.4 billion of these earmarks were requested by the President, while Congress sponsored $330 million worth (some were sponsored by both).

Earmarks

The Small Business Administration garnered 73 earmarks worth $36 million—a 20 percent reduction below FY 2006, according to the Committee’s report on the bill.  The earmarks generally go toward entrepreneurship programs at universities and local commerce organizations. Mississippi gained the most from these earmarks, unsurprising since Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) is ranking member of the appropriations committee. Cochran and Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) handed the state $4.5 million in the form of projects like the Mississippi Technology Alliance Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Alliances and industrial park development for the Pontotoc Union Lee County Alliance. Illinois was a close second with $4 million in earmarks, the largest being an initiative sponsored by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) to give the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity $1.8 million for a statewide broadband infrastructure project.  Appropriations committee chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV) managed to sneak in some tangentially related earmarks, including a $2 million earmark for improvements to Haddad Riverfront Park in the West Virginia town of Charleston . Charleston Mayor Danny Jones told a local paper that the improvements would probably go toward building a retractable roof over park seating. Byrd also inserted $1 million for a conference center at the National Training Center for Public Facility Managers in Wheeling , a project that also received a $2 million earmark in the 2001 Veterans Affairs –HUD bill.  The Federal Buildings Fund got a $1.2 billion boost from earmarks, $1 million of them requested by the President. These include $346 million for three earmarks related to the Department of Homeland Security’s move to the St. Elizabeth’s campus in the District of Columbia . Several courthouses received extra funding, including $170.5 million for the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse in New York City . In addition to the Presidential earmarks, Durbin designated $58 million for a U.S. courthouse in Rockford , Illinois , while Richard Shelby (R-AL) allocated $21 million for a federal building in Tuscaloosa , Alabama .  Finally, the National Archives and Records Administration reaped $25 million in earmarks. The President was responsible for nearly $10 million in ongoing repair funds, but lawmakers including Hillary Clinton (D-NY), John Kerry (D-MA) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) added money for presidential libraries in their districts. Republican Ted Stevens (R-AK) earmarked $2 million for a regional archives center in Anchorage .  Spending on other major agencies and programs in the bill follows.

• The committee appropriated $251 million for Treasury Department salaries and expenses, reflecting increases in programs including the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. The Internal Revenue Service received $11 billion, $46 million above the budget request.
• The Office of Management and Budget gets $78 million, matching the House appropriation but increasing the President’s request by $7.5 million. The jump is ascribed to the inclusion of space rental costs in the OMB budget rather than that of the Office of Administration, where it was originally requested.
• The Office of National Drug Control Policy receives $25 million, about $500 million below the House appropriation, while Federal Drug Control Programs receive $235 million, some $10 million more than the House.
• District of Columbia funding jumped $16 million from the administration request to $613 million, covering agencies including the D.C. courts and the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission garnered $905 million, matching the Presidential request.

The U.S. Postal Service received $117 million, an additional $29 million above the administration’s request, which the House matched. The $29 million would make up for revenue foregone on free and reduced-rate mail for voters who live overseas, in rural areas or are blind, among others.