How is it prepared for delivery?
Chairman Van Hollen, Ranking Member Hagerty, and Members of the Subcommittee: Thank you for the invitation to testify and for your support of the Treasury Department.
Over the past three years, the Treasury has helped drive a historic economic recovery and put our economy on a strong medium to long-term path. GDP growth has been strong, growing 3.0 percent over the past four quarters. Inflation has fallen substantially from its peak, even as we have more work to do to address high costs and give families more breathing room. The labor market is remarkably healthy. And companies have announced more than $850 billion in investments in clean energy and manufacturing since the start of this Administration, even in places that historically had not received significant investments or where investments had declined. To support this, Treasury has played a leading role in implementing the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act.
We have also focused on taking action beyond our borders to strengthen America's economic leadership and national security. I am encouraged that Congress passed crucial support for Ukraine and other allies. The Treasury continues to impose sanctions to restrict Russia's ability to wage war and we are working with our partners to unlock the economic value of tied up Russian sovereign assets. Treasury is also using the tools at our disposal to respond to the conflict in the Middle East and responsibly manage the economic relationship between the United States and China, including ensuring that American workers and businesses can compete on a level playing field and protecting our security. national.
Let me now highlight several key requests in the President's FY 2025 budget that will allow the Treasury to continue advancing America's economic interests.
First, the Budget requests $12.3 billion in discretionary resources for the Internal Revenue Service. Thanks to IRA funding and annual allocations, we have already seen unprecedented improvements. This filing season, we're making it easier for taxpayers to file their taxes and get the credits they're owed, including providing 11,000 additional hours of in-person assistance. 140,000 taxpayers saved millions in tax preparation fees through the Direct File pilot program, a free and easy way to file taxes online directly with the IRS. We have also increased enforcement to ensure that wealthy taxpayers and large corporations pay their fair share, collecting millions in unpaid tax debts from millionaires.
We need resources to continue saving the American people time and money and helping reduce the deficit. The IRS is inviting all states to participate in Direct File as soon as the next filing season and intends to expand it to support all of the most common tax situations over the next few years. And we will continue working to close the tax gap driven by the wealthiest Americans, which costs us more than $600 billion a year.
Second, the Budget requests funding to enable the Treasury to address emerging threats, such as $312 million for Treasury Departmental Offices, including supporting the security of investments in sensitive technologies and the stability of the financial system, and $150 million to improve cybersecurity and protect our systems against intrusion by malicious state actors.
Third, the Budget requests $231 million for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, which provides critical financial intelligence and economic analysis related to sanctions, including to support sanctions related to Hamas, Iran and Russia. It also requests $216 million for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to protect the financial system and combat illicit finances.
I am pleased to now be able to answer your questions.
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