What Does the Department of the Treasury Do?

The Divisions Within the Department of the Treasury

Established on September 2, 1789, the United States Department of the Treasury, controller of the nation's currency, stands across the street from the White House in Washington D.C. Its divisions include the Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Bureau of Narcotics, the Bureau of the Mint, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of the Public Debt, the Bureau of Accounts, and the Office of the Treasurer of the United States.

The Department of the Treasury is headed by the Secretary of the Treasury, a position appointed by the President of the United States. Since the Secretary of the Treasury is a member of the President's cabinet, the Secretary acts as an advisor to the President on U.S. financial policies, and informs the President about matters pertaining to its various divisions.

One of these divisions, the Bureau of the Public Debt, manages the U.S. national debt, or the amount of money which the federal government owes to its creditors. The most frequently cited cause for the existence of the national debt concerns expenses incurred by the government related to warfare. The actual monetary expenditure required for wartime activity, however, reflects only a portion of the national debt. Other activities, such as the expenses involved in creating public improvements, such as building roads and draining waterways, including the inundation caused by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, also contribute greatly to the national debt. To reduce the national debt, money is raised by the U.S. government through the sale of government bonds and through the act of taxation, since taxes generate governmental income.