Andrea Joy Campbell: “I am now pleased to lay before the Senate the committee recommendation for the Treasury Department, the Postal Service…”

“I am now pleased to lay before the Senate the committee recommendation for the Treasury Department, the Postal Service, the Executive Office of the President, and various independent agencies. The bill was crafted by the Subcommittee on Treasury and General Government and contains a total of $27,737,971,000 in new budget authority. Of that, $14,533,811,000 is for mandatory accounts. The committee recommendation is within the 302(b) allocations and strikes a delicate balance between congressional priorities, administration initiatives, and agency requirements. This would not have been possible without the hard work and cooperation of the new ranking member of the subcommittee, Senator Dorgan, and his staff. This bill consists of mostly salaries and expenses accounts and the majority of the increases for agencies is to simply allow them to maintain current levels. There are very few new initiatives in this bill. Title I provides a total of $12,213,529,000 for the Department of the Treasury. This is $162,601,000 less than the administration request. The committee has again placed a priority on Treasury's law enforcement needs as well as support for efforts by State and local law enforcement. Here are a few highlights from Title I: $312,400,000 to the Customs Service to retain 5,000 current Customs employees since the user fee proposed by the administration has not been enacted.”