Fiscal Year 2014 SEC Budget Appropriations Side-by-Side Comparison

House Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill, 2014—SEC Budget (H.R. 2786)
Approved by the full House Appropriations Committee on July 17th, 2013 by a vote of 27-21. / Senate Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill, 2014—SEC Budget (S. 1371)
Approved by the full Senate Appropriations Committee on July 25th, 2013 by a vote of 16-14.
Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Recommended in the Bill / $1,371,000,000 / $1,674,000,000
Bill Compared with:
Appropriation, fiscal year 2013 / +$50,000,000
(3.79% increase) / +$353,000,000
(26.72% increase)
Bill Compared with:
President’s Budget Request, fiscal year 2014 / -$303,000,000
(18.1% decrease) / $0
(exact match with the President’s Budget Request)

SEC’s FY 2014 Budget

Earlier this year, SEC Chair Mary Jo White submitted a $1.674 billion budget request to Congress for the 2014 fiscal year beginning October 1st, 2013. On May 7th, Chair White testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government where she discussed the SEC 2014 budget request and answered questions from members of the Committee. She also testified before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government on June 25th regarding the SEC 2014 budget. The FY 2014 budget request would be fully offset by matching collections of fees on securities transactions and thus will not increase the Federal budget deficit. While the 2013 fiscal year SEC budget was only $1.321 billion, the SEC is requesting a $353 million increase for the 2014 fiscal year in order to permit the SEC “to add approximately 676 new staff positions, both to improve core operations and implement the agency’s new responsibilities” and provide additional funding for the following key areas:

  • expanding oversight of investment advisers and improving their regulation and compliance – a point at which investors are most at risk of being defrauded and harmed;
  • bolstering enforcement – a primary function of the SEC is to enforce the law and deter other would-be wrongdoers;
  • economic and risk analysis to support rulemaking and oversight – critical to good and valid rulemaking;
  • building oversight of derivatives and clearing agencies – significant new agency responsibilities to help safeguard against future financial crises;
  • enhancing reviews of corporate disclosures – including supporting implementation of the JOBS Act;
  • leveraging technology – to improve our ability to detect wrongdoing, streamline our operations, and tighten the security of our data; and
  • enhancing training and development of SEC staff – to increase our staff expertise.

On July 17th the House Appropriations Committee voted 27-21 for the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2014 (H.R. 2786) which would only provide $1.371 billion to the SEC for FY 2014, $303 million less than the SEC budget request asked for. On July 25th the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 16-14 for the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2014 (S. 1371) which would provide $1.674 billion to the SEC for FY 2014, the exact amount that the SEC requested. While the Senate budget proposal is fully offset by fees collected on transactions, the House proposal bars the SEC from using its statutorily prescribed reserve fund. As of right now, the House and Senate have not announced when they will put the two budget bills up for a full floor vote, nor when they will hold a joint conference committee.