SEC Full Funding Boost Request Goes Bust

The Securities and Exchange Commission is set to get $303 million less than what it was requesting under the House Appropriations Committee fiscal year 2014 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill, released Tuesday.

The bill, to be considered in subcommittee Wednesday, includes $1.4 billion for the SEC, which is a $50 million increase from its fiscal 2013 budget but $303 million less than President Barack Obama requested.

SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White told the appropriations committee in early May that the agency’s $1.67 billion budget request for fiscal 2014 would help it fulfill one of its top priorities: to add 250 examiners for advisors.

The 250 examiners, White said, would increase the proportion of advisors examined each year, the rate of first-time examinations, and the examination coverage of investment advisors and newly registered private fund advisors.

The $1.67 billion budget request under Obama’s budget is a 27% increase, or $353 million, over the $1.32 billion provided by the continuing resolution (CR) the SEC was operating under this year.

Rep. José Serrano, D-N.Y., ranking member on the subcommittee, noted during the early May hearing that while it would be an “unwise investment choice” for the subcommittee to cut funding for the agency that’s the “cop on the beat” for Wall Street and that ensures “a fair playing field” for the nation’s markets, he told White that “further cuts” were likely.

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Check out SEC’s White Gets Short Shrift from Congress.