The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2017 Financial Services and General Government spending bill Thursday with $22.4 billion in funding across several federal agencies.

It reportedly does not include measures related to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau funding appropriations and leadership structure approved in the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee’s version of the fiscal year 2017 bill earlier this week. PoliticoPro reported Wednesday that the Senate version of the bill does not include any policy provisions related to Dodd-Frank regulations.

According to the bill, the Federal Communications Commission would receive $341 million in funding for fiscal year 2017, an 11 percent cut from the agency’s current funding. Overall, the Senate Appropriations Committee’s approved funding is $1 billion below the level enacted for fiscal year 2016, “which required making targeted investments to encourage small business growth while strengthening efforts on counterterrorism, cybersecurity and agency oversight,” according to a committee news release.

Agencies with funding through the bill include the U.S. Department of Treasury, Small Business Administration, Internal Revenue Service, the federal judiciary and other independent federal agencies.

Other provisions of the bill, according to the committee, include:

• $11.2 billion in funding for the IRS, the same amount as in fiscal year 2016. Of the total, $290 million is required for “measurable improvements in customer service level of service, identity theft protection, and enhanced cybersecurity to safeguard taxpayer data.”
• The IRS, to ensure accountability and transparency, is also prohibited from using funds for bonuses or to rehire past employees without consideration of employee conduct and tax compliance; to target groups for regulatory scrutiny based on their ideological beliefs; individuals for exercising their First Amendment rights; and for the production of inappropriate videos and conferences.
• The SBA is slated to receive $871 million to help small businesses, grow the economy and increase job growth for unemployed and underemployed consumers.  It includes full funding for business loans, $157 million,  $120 million for Small Business Development Centers, $12.3 million for veterans outreach programs, and $10.5 million for SCORE, formerly the Service Corps of Retired Executives.

The Senate’s vote follows a 30-17 approval of the House version of the bill by the House Appropriations Committee on June 9, ACA International previously reported.

The bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee includes provisions to bring funding for the CFPB under the congressional appropriations process and change the leadership structure to a five-member bipartisan commission.

U.S. Reps. Steve Palazzo (R-Miss.) and Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) introduced an amendment to the House bill on June 9 that “prohibits funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to finalize or implement a rule that would restrict payday lending until the CFPB completes a report, with public comment, on the impact of the rule on populations with limited access to credit, and until it identifies existing credit products available to replace the current sources of short-term, small-dollar credit,” according to a news release from the committee. The committee approved the amendment in a 30-18 vote.

ACA has long advocated for legislation that will make the CFPB a more open and objective government agency, including changing the CFPB structure from a single director to a bi-partisan commission, funding through congressional appropriation and the creation of a dedicated Inspector General for the CFPB.