Congress passes government funding bill, ignores SEC

Author: Frank Darras

Congress approved legislation on Tuesday that funds government operations through March 4, but will not give the Securities and Exchange Commission extra funding to implement provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act.

The continuing resolution maintains the SEC‘s budget for fiscal year 2011 at the 2010 fiscal year level of $1.118 billion. The SEC had requested $1.258 billion for fiscal year 2011.

An SEC spokesman and some legislators have said the lack of additional funding will hamper implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act and affect the commission’s ability to protect consumers and investors.

Earlier this month, Senate Republicans halted a continuing resolution passed by the House that would have provided the SEC a $1.25 billion budget for fiscal year 2011. In addition, last week Republican senators prevented a measure that would have given the SEC $1.3 billion more than the legislation approved on Tuesday.