On Wednesday, June 15th, 2011, the House Appropriations Committee released a bill that would freeze the SEC’s budget for 2012 at its current level of $1.185 billion, thus rejecting the SEC’s budget request for 2012 of $1.407 billion. In May 2011, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro testified that through Dodd-Frank, Congress had handed the SEC a host of new responsibilities on top of what was previously on its plate, including the tasks of promulgating more than 100 new rules, creating five new offices (including an entire whistleblower program), producing more than 20 studies and reports, and much more. Schapiro stated that the increased budget the agency sought was necessary to handle its current and new responsibilities.
Moreover, not only would the House bill appropriate $222 million less than the SEC has requested, it would also place a freeze on the SEC’s ability to draw on the $100 million Reserve Fund established under Dodd-Frank. Section 991 of Dodd-Frank creates this fund and states that the SEC may draw upon it up to “$100,000,000 in any 1 fiscal year, as the Commission determines is necessary to carry out the functions of the Commission”, such as technology or capital improvements.
