On the recordJuly 6, 2016
The bill before us today takes a measured approach to the Securities and Exchange Commission. A lot of people don't realize that that agency has received some of the largest increases over the last decade that a lot of agencies wish they had received. Today, we cut the SEC's funding by $50 million from the 2016 because the Commission estimates that $50 million is carryover funding from last year. In addition, we rescind money from the SEC's reserve fund, which was set up kind of like a slush fund under Dodd-Frank. That is totally outside congressional oversight. Because the Commission has been using the reserve fund for important information technology projects, we have increased funding for the IT in the bill. Now, I believe that, if we upgrade information technology, the Commission will be better able to leverage its resources, catch bad actors, and provide the quality of review that security filings deserve. To that end, the bill targets funding for another area of need within the Commission, and that is the economic analysis. I believe continuing to set aside funding to fully fund the SEC's Division of Economic and Risk Analysis is going to help the SEC's work withstand any kind of judicial review. I happen to believe that the current Chair, Mary Jo White, is steering the SEC towards prioritizing enforcement and investor protection and not so much the politically charged rulemakings. Because of that, we have kept the SEC's funding at a reasonable level.…
