Growth in U.S. regulatory spending continues

Published 25 May 2010

Since 2000, the U.S. annual budget outlays for regulatory activities increased by more than 75 percent; one example: the fiscal 2011 budget calls for more than $59 billion dollars to be spend on homeland security — this is the largest federal regulatory budget to date

A new study from Washington University in St. Louis reveals that U.S. regulatory spending and staffing is at an all-time high.

Since 2000, the annual budget outlays for regulatory activities increased by more than 75 percent. One example: the fiscal 2011 budget calls for more than $59 billion dollars to be spend on homeland security. This is the largest federal regulatory budget to date.

Contributing to this increase is the number of full-time federal regulatory staff, which is also expected to reach an all-time high of almost 284,000 employees in 2011, up by more than 7,000 employees in 2010.

 

“The dollar growth in spending over the last decade was more than double that of any previous decade,” said Melinda Warren of Washington University’s Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government and Public Policy. Warren is the co-author of the study, which has been conducted for the past thirty-two years.

“Spending and staffing in 2011 will continue this trend,” said Susan Dudley, co-author of the report and director of the GW Regulatory Studies Center. “The allocation of regulatory expenditures among the different departments and agencies reflects continued national concerns about homeland security, housing and financial markets and corporate governance.”

The study reveals that budget expenditures and staffing at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), under DHS, dominate the growth in the 2011 Regulators’ Budget. President Obama has requested a $1.4 billion increase in expenditures from 2010 and almost 4,600 more positions at the agency. Due in part to the growing number of federal employees engaged in airport screening at the TSA, federal regulatory agencies employed 100,000 more full-time staff in 2010 than in 2000, an increase of more than 57 percent.

 

Other agencies with homeland security missions also received budget increases in 2011, include:

  • Coast Guard: $158 million increase
  • Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): $129 million increase
  • Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): $101 million increase.

Additionally, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) all received budget increases of $100 million or more.

 

The report, A Decade of Growth in the Regulators’ Budget: An Analysis of the U.S. Budget for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011, is available for downloading.