Trump Budget Does Not Ax FSOC
In President Donald Trump’s proposed Fiscal Year 2018 budget request, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) would remain and have a budget of about $8 million, the same level as last year. At his nomination hearing, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin endorsed the relevancy of the council as a check against financial risk-taking, although he expressed reservations over how it regulated the financial services industry.
Mnuchin is also tasked with conducting a broad review of the Office of Financial Research (OFR), which does independent economic analysis, and the Financial Research Fund. His report is due to the White House by October. Hardest hit by the proposal would be the OFR, which would see funding reduced by 25 percent from $101 million to $76 million.
The budget request confirmed that Trump would reduce discretionary funding for the National Flood Insurance Program’s Flood Hazard Mapping Program by 94 percent from $190 million to just $12 million next year.