Bill Funding SEC at $1.185B for Fiscal Year 2012 Approved by House Committee

The House Appropriations Committee has voted to approve an appropriations bill to bill fund the Securities and Exchange Commission for fiscal year 2012 at $1.185 billion. The appropriations level is equivalent to what the SEC was given for FY 2011. However, it is $222 million less than what the White House requested for the next fiscal year. The bill also would bar the funding of the SEC’s “reserve fund,” which the committee believes would work as a “slush fund” for the SEC for programs that Congress has not approved.

According to committee chairman Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), the House Appropriations Committee has taken steps to funding for programs that are “ineffective and unproven” and stop taxpayer money from going toward waste and redundancy. The committee, however, also reports that it continues to be troubled by the way the SEC handles its funds and is “reticent” to give the commission more funding until it deals with the efficiencies noted in the Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) report, which recommends important structural and operational improvements at the Commission. It remains worried about the SEC’s ability to successfully handle Ponzi scams and has concerns that a proposed rulemaking to register municipal advisors may be too broad.

Says Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP Founder and Securities Fraud Attorney William Shepherd, “At one time, the SEC was one of the few agencies that actually produced revenues for our government (along with the IRS and the Interior Department, which leases federal minerals, etc.). It seems to me that this agency could be self-funding again if it simply imposed heavy fines for actions such as short-selling rule violations. An interesting statement by the committee is ‘we have cut funding for ineffective and unproven programs.’ Judging by the SEC’s recent performances, why would this not include virtually all the Commission’s programs”?

Appropriations Committee Approves Fiscal Year 2012 Financial Services Appropriations Bill, US House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, June 23, 2011

More Blog Posts:
Impartiality of SEC Report by Boston Consulting Group Questioned by Key House Republicans, Institutional Investors Securities Blog, March 30, 2011
SEC Needs to Keep a Closer Eye on FINRA, Says Report, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, March 15, 2011
MSRB Seeks Public Comment on New Fiduciary Duty Rule for Municipal Advisors, Institutional Investors Securities Blog, February 21, 2011
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