The House Appropriations Committee voted Thursday to give the Securities and Exchange Commission $1.5 billion, more than $200 million less than the $1.7 billion requested in President Barack Obama's fiscal year 2017 budget.
Obama's fiscal 2017 budget request is an increase of $176 million, or 11%, from the agency's 2016 budget.
Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., stated during the Thursday markup of the bill by the full committee that "no agency has received so many increases over the years as the SEC."
Said Crenshaw: "We give them [the SEC] additional money in our bill for IT [information technology] and to do some economic analysis so they understand the impact their rules are having on the community and can withstand judicial review."
SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White "is moving the SEC in the right direction — prioritizing enforcement and protecting investors, and not doing politically charged rules and regulations," Crenshaw said. "We've kept the SEC at a reasonable [funding] level."
An amendment to bring SEC funding back up to Obama's FY2017 budget level was defeated during the markup.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to set a date to consider its financial services funding bill.
White told the Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee on April 12 that the agency would use $14.7 million of Obama's $1.781 billion fiscal 2017 budget request to enhance the agency's cybersecurity controls, specifically to secure the agency's data and "what companies provide to us."
Securing the boost in funds under Obama's budget would allow the agency to continue to add examiners to focus on cybersecurity issues as well as investment advisors, she told lawmakers.
