Funds Management Program

Background

The Secretary of the U.S. Treasury is designated by law as the managing trustee for 18 of the approximately 250 federal investment funds.

With more than $3 trillion in assets, the Treasury-managed investment funds are some of the largest trust funds in the federal government. They receive Social Security, Medicare, excise, and employment taxes---all collected by Treasury---and premiums, fines, penalties, and other designated monies collected by the agencies that administer the programs for which these trust funds exist.

The Role of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service

The Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service) is delegated the responsibility for administering these 18 funds.

For each of these funds, Fiscal Service invests all receipts credited to the Fund. The invested assets are kept in the trust fund account until money is needed by the specific Federal Program agency to fund program activity, such as Social Security and unemployment benefit payments, or highway funding.

When the program agencies decide that monies are needed, Fiscal Service cashes securities from the funds' investment balances and transfers the proceeds, including interest earned on the investments, to the program accounts for payment by the agency. The Bureau provides monthly and other periodic reporting to each fund's program agency.