9 Duties of the Secretary of the Treasury

The Secretary of the Treasury is the leader of the US Department of the Treasury, the part of the executive branch that manages the nation's financial system. The president nominates the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Senate confirms the choice for the cabinet-level position by a majority vote. The Secretary of the Treasury works to sustain economic growth, stabilize financial institutions, forefend financial crises, and implement the president's fiscal policies.

The Secretary of the Treasury is fifth in succession to the presidency, following the vice president, the Speaker of the House, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the Secretary of State.

From the very beginning, the Secretary of the Treasury has helped establish the United States’ monetary policy on behalf of the president.

• Alexander Hamilton: The first Secretary of the Treasury was Alexander Hamilton in the cabinet of President George Washington. Hamilton served in the temporary capital of New York and later in Philadelphia. By 1800, the federal government, including the Treasury Department, had moved to the new capital of Washington, DC.
• Changing duties: At various points, the US Department of the Treasury has supervised the Postal Service, the General Land Office, the Coast Guard, the Coast Survey, the Lighthouse Service, the Marine Hospital Service, the Bureau of Narcotics, and the Bureau of the Budget. For decades, Customs Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives (ATF), and the Secret Service reported to the Treasury Department. (These bureaus now report to the Department of Homeland Security.)
• Finance background: Many treasury secretaries have come from private finance, including Timothy Geithner, who served under President Barack Obama, and Steve Mnuchin, who served under President Donald Trump. Others come from the world of politics, such as Obama's second Secretary of the Treasury, Jacob J. Lew. In 2021, economist Janet Louise Yellen became the first female Secretary of the Treasury, serving under President Joseph Biden.
• Legacy: Some Secretaries of the Treasury had consequential terms in office. Albert Gallatin, who served under President Thomas Jefferson, was responsible for financing the Louisiana Purchase. Andrew W. Mellon, who served under presidents Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover, took a laissez-faire approach to financial management, which some economists believe helped spur the Great Depression.

The Secretary of the Treasury serves at the pleasure of the President and assumes multiple duties, including:

1. 1. Fiscal policy: On behalf of the president, the Secretary of the Treasury helps craft the federal government's domestic and international economic policy and tax policy.
2. 2. Managing public debt: The Treasury Department manages debt and makes payments on debt owed by the federal government.
3. 3. Tax collection: The Secretary of the Treasury oversees the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the federal agency that collects taxpayer revenue to fund government operations.
4. 4. Advising the president: The Secretary of the Treasury makes recommendations on fiscal policy and economic strategy, working with White House officials like those in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Secretary also serves as Chairman Pro Tempore of the President's Economic Policy Council.
5. 5. Law enforcement: The Treasury Department enforces financial laws and regulations, particularly those related to the nation's banking system. Through the Internal Revenue Service Bureau, the Secretary of the Treasury prosecutes financial criminals.
6. 6. Currency manufacture: Through the United States Mint and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Treasury Department manufactures US coins and currency. Along with the Treasurer of the United States, the Secretary of the Treasury signs Federal Reserve Notes for the money to become an official legal tender.
7. 7. Managing entitlement funds: The Secretary serves as Chair of the Boards and Managing Trustee of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds.
8. 8. International finance: The Secretary of the Treasury is the US Governor of the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Asian Development Bank.
9. 9. National security: The Treasury Department enforces monetary sanctions on private banks and central banks of foreign nations as part of an administration's national security policy.

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