FEDERAL AGENCIES


The Treasury Department is the executive agency responsible for promoting economic prosperity and ensuring the financial security of the United States. The Department is responsible for a wide range of activities, such as advising the President on economic and financial issues, encouraging sustainable economic growth, and fostering improved governance in financial institutions. The Department of the Treasury operates and maintains systems that are critical to the nation’s financial infrastructure, such as the production of coin and currency, the disbursement of payments to the American public, revenue collection, and the borrowing of funds necessary to run the federal government. The Department works with other federal agencies, foreign governments, and international financial institutions to encourage global economic growth, raise standards of living, and to the extent possible, predict and prevent economic and financial crises. The Treasury Department also performs a critical and far-reaching role in enhancing national security by implementing economic sanctions against foreign threats to the U.S., identifying and targeting the financial support networks of national security threats, and improving the safeguards of our financial systems.
The mission of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation. The SEC oversees the key participants in the securities world, including securities exchanges, securities brokers and dealers, investment advisors, and mutual funds. Here the SEC is concerned primarily with promoting the disclosure of important market-related information, maintaining fair dealing, and protecting against fraud.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a recognized leader in promoting sound public policies, addressing risks in the nation’s financial system, and carrying out its insurance, supervisory, consumer protection, and receivership management responsibilities. It is an independent agency created by the Congress to maintain stability and public confidence in the nation’s financial system by:

  • insuring deposits
  • examining and supervising financial institutions for safety and soundness and consumer protection
  • managing receiverships

U.S. SENATE COMMITTEES


The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs has jurisdiction over matters related to banks and banking; price controls; deposit insurance; export promotion and controls; federal monetary policy; financial aid to commerce and industry; issuance and redemption of notes, currency and coinage; public and private housing; urban development and mass transit and government contracts.
The Senate Finance Committee has jurisdiction over matters relating to the bonded debt of the United States; customs, collection districts, and ports of entry and delivery; deposit of public monies; general revenue sharing; health programs under the Social Security Act (notably Medicare and Medicaid) and health programs financed by a specific tax or trust fund; national social security; reciprocal trade agreements; revenue measures generally and those relating to the insular possessions; tariff and import quotas, and related matters thereto; and the transportation of dutiable goods. The role of the Committee is very similar to that of the House Committee on Ways and Means with one very important difference: all revenue raising measures must originate in the House, giving the Ways and Means Committee slightly more influence in setting tax policy.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) generally considers matters relating to health, education, labor and pensions, but its jurisdiction extends beyond these issues to include several more specific areas as defined by Senate rules. These additional areas include private pension plans, railway labor and retirement, regulation of foreign laborers, student loans, wages and hours of labor, and the federal minimum wage.
The Senate Committee on the Judiciary, one of the Senate’s original standing committees, has one of the broadest jurisdictions in the Senate, ranging from criminal justice to antitrust and intellectual property law. The Judiciary Committee is also in charge of conducting hearings prior to the Congressional confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court justices, Court of Appeals judges and District Court judges.

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEES


In the words of Committee Chairman Collin C. Peterson (D-MN) :

“For more than 185 years, the House Committee on Agriculture has established farm policy for agriculture and rural America in the nation’s capital. Our nation was founded on the strength of agriculture production, which helped to establish us among the world’s most powerful and prosperous nations. The importance of agriculture in the United States has only grown, as our nation’s farmers and ranchers produce the food, fiber and products that keep our nation strong and bountiful and that help feed a hungry world.

The responsibilities and goals of the House Committee on Agriculture are as diverse as the needs of American agriculture. We face issues as varied as renewable energy, rural development, disaster assistance, nutrition, crop insurance, conservation, international trade, futures market regulation, animal and plant health, agricultural research and development, bioterrorism, forestry and many others.

Our challenge is to find ways to address the diverse needs of agriculture in regions with very different products, climates and experiences. We must continue to work together to find ways to not only support our nation’s agricultural production but also to ensure that American consumers continue to have access to the world’s safest, most abundant food and agriculture products.

This is no small challenge, but there are diverse and strong voices that are helping us shape the future of farm policy in the United States.”

The Committee on Education and Labor oversees all federal education and labor programs and initiatives, including pensions and retirement security for workers.
The House Financial Services Committee oversees all components of the nation’s housing and financial services sectors including banking, insurance, real estate, public and assisted housing, and securities. The Committee continually reviews the laws and programs relating to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Reserve Bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and international development and finance agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The Committee on Ways and Means is considered the most powerful House Committee. The Committee has jurisdiction over all taxation, tariffs and other revenue-raising measures, as well as a number of other programs, including Social Security. The U.S. Constitution requires that all bills regarding taxation originate in the House of Representatives, and House Rules direct that all bills regarding taxation go through this Committee. These stipulations make the Ways and Means Committee particularly powerful, especially in comparison with its Senate counterpart, the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance.

INTERNATIONAL BODIES


The United Kingdom Financial Services Authority is an independent body that regulates the financial services industry in the UK. It has been given a wide range of rule-making, investigatory and enforcement powers in order to meet its four statutory objectives. In meeting these, the Authority is also obliged to have regard to the Principles of Good Regulation.
The Authority summarizes its Statutory Objectives and Principles of Good Regulation in three Strategic Aims:

  • Promoting efficient, orderly and fair markets
  • Helping retail consumers achieve a fair deal
  • Improving business capability and effectiveness
  1. Functions of Internal Subdivisions
      • Minister’s Secretariat : Overall co-ordination and adjustment of the competent administration; matters concerning personnel management and accounts of the Ministry of Finance; investigation and research of matters necessary for the competent administration; investigation, planning and drafting of the Government financial institutions system; matters concerning earthquake re-insurance; planning and drafting of matters concerning financial crisis management; supervision of the Deposit Insurance Corporation, etc.
      • Budget Bureau : Planning, drafting and consolidation of budget system, settlement of accounts system and accounting system.
      • Tax Bureau : Planning and drafting of systems concerning taxes and estimation of tax revenue
      • Customs and Tariff Bureau : Planning and drafting of systems concerning Customs duties; planning and drafting of international treaties concerning Customs duties; supervision of Customs operations; compilation of Customs statistics, etc.
      • Financial Bureau : Matters concerning treasury system, government debt management, local bonds, issuance of coins, the Fiscal Investment and Loan Program, national property, the tobacco industry, the salt industry, ensuring proper management of operations and organization of the Bank of Japan, etc.
      • International Bureau : Investigation, planning and drafting of matters concerning foreign exchange and international monetary systems and their stability; adjustment of balance of payments; management of the Foreign Exchange Special Account; matters concerning foreign exchange rates; matters concerning international organizations related to economic cooperation or development; matters concerning overseas loans and investment, etc.
  2. Functions of Facilities
      • Policy Research Institute :  Basic and comprehensive study and research concerning policies under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance and fiscal and economic at home and abroad
      • Accounting Center : Research concerning settlement of state accounts by the electronic information processing system and its management
      • Central Customs Laboratory : Chemical analysis, etc., requiring highly advanced specialized skills concerning export and import clearance
      • Customs Training Institute : Management of training of Ministry of Finance officials concerning matters necessary for Customs administration
  3. Function of Local Branch Offices
      • Local Finance Bureau : Inspection and investigation of the implementation status of state budget; statistical surveys on incorporated enterprises; supervision of matters concerning tobacco businesses; management and investment of fiscal loans; investigation of local economy and fiscal conditions; management and disposal of national property; matters entrusted by the Financial Services Agency, such as inspection and supervision of local private financial institutions, supervision concerning securities transactions, examination of securities submitted, management of certified public accountant examinations, etc.
      • Customs-Houses : Imposition and collection of customs duties, tonnage dues and special tonnage dues; control of export and import goods, vessels, aircraft and passengers; licensing of customhouse brokerage; supervision of customhouse brokers; management of national examination for customhouse brokers, etc.
  4. Functions of Independent Organs
    • National Tax Agency : Assessment and collection of national tax; management of Certified Public Tax Accountant system; licence issuance for liquor manufactures and sales, etc.