Senate Democrats Want SEC, CFTC Funding Restored

Senate Democrats late on Friday unveiled their version of a federal budget that restores funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to the full levels proposed by the president: $1.26 billion and $286 million, respectively, the Deal Pipeline reported yesterday. On Feb. 19, the House Republicans approved a plan that cut more than $60 billion from Obama's budget, slashing money for health reform, the Environmental Protection Agency, student aid and public broadcasting, along with money for the SEC and the CFTC. The Republican plan would fund the SEC and CFTC budgets at $1.1 billion and $186 million respectively, levels that would force both agencies to cut back on staff and technology at the same time they are assuminig their new Dodd-Frank Act responsibilities. Republicans also moved to bar the Obama administration from using czars to run various programs including the Troubled Asset Relief Program