News
White House Proposes Budget Cuts for Treasury Department
By Colby Adams
printThe White House proposed Monday trimming the U.S. Treasury Department's budget by three percent for the coming fiscal year, including a seven percent drop in funding for the country's financial intelligence unit. Under the plan, the Obama administration would appropriate $14 billion to the department, including $100 million for its Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, a $7.4 million bump over the office's 2012 budget. Funding for the department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) would decrease by $8 million, to $105 million. Separately, the U.S. Justice Department would see its funding remain roughly flat, at $26.7 billion. Of that, $55...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Related News
Several Treasury Department agencies tasked with fighting money laundering and other financial crimes would see modest budget increases in a White House plan disclosed Monday.
Mandatory budget cuts scheduled to take effect in eight days would hinder the U.S. Treasury Department's efforts to crack down on money laundering and terrorist financing, say top federal officials.
Law enforcement agencies and other government officials may find it harder to attend industry conferences in the coming year following allegations of wasteful spending at the General Services Administration, say sources.
A U.S. Treasury Department budget proposal to shift Bank Secrecy Act oversight duties from the IRS to state examiners could run into funding troubles from state agencies, say officials.
As many federal agencies have watched their budgets and staffs shrink or remain static in recent years, the U.S. Treasury Department office charged with researching economic sanctions has seen something rare: growth.
Possible budget cuts for the U.S. financial intelligence unit are spurring concerns that the bureau may curtail its funding of the Internal Revenue Service's anti-money laundering examinations, say current and former federal officials.
Planned budget cuts that would limit cooperation between regional investigators and the U.S. Treasury Department's financial intelligence unit would be nixed under the latest congressional appropriations bill.
The U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network would see its budget rise by nine percent for fiscal year 2011 under a Senate proposal released Tuesday.
Budgetary constraints and understaffing are hampering U.S. Treasury Department plans to update technology used by its financial intelligence unit to gather and store data, U.S. lawmakers said Wednesday.
Contending with a lengthy recession, some U.S. banks have fallen behind on their core anti-money laundering compliance duties, including risk ranking customers and reporting suspicious activity, say federal officials.
Mexican AML consultant Alberto Avila recently spoke with reporter Larissa Bernardes about FATF's mutual evaluation of Mexico and the budget challenges facing compliance departments in the Latin American country.
Now that the confetti has settled and the kazoos have been packed away for next year's parties, anti-money laundering compliance officers consider what lies ahead in 2008.
The Bush Administration is seeking a 7 percent budget increase next year for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that includes about $4 million for units that investigate bulk cash smuggling and trade finance-related money laundering.