Two agencies that regulate the financial industry - the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission - would see double-digit increases in their budgets, under President Barack Obama's proposed new budget.
Much of the increased spending for Fiscal Year 2011 would go toward implementing a regulatory overhaul that Obama wants Congress to approve. The House voted for one version of an overhaul bill in December, while the Senate has just begun public debate.
Other regulators would get modest increases under the budget proposal released this morning, in contrast with Obama’s proposed freeze on discretionary spending. Below is a look at how much some regulatory agencies would be authorized to spend on salaries and other expenses. (The amounts include both general fund appropriations from Congress and money the agencies collect from fees and elsewhere.)
Commodity Futures Trading Commission: increase of 54.4% to $261 million, with the bulk of the increase going to new regulation of derivatives and stepped-up enforcement of existing regulations. The budget plan notes that “trading volume has increased five-fold over the past ten years.” The plan would pay for 20 new full-time staffers for existing responsibilities and 119 to carry out regulatory changes.
Consumer Product Safety Commission: essentially flat, with an increase of 0.3% to $118.6 million.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: increase of 4.9% to $385.3 million, with almost the entire increase going toward private-sector enforcement. Obama mentioned employment discrimination in his State of the Union address, and the budget plan anticipates a 14.3% increase in the EEOC’s private-sector workload.
Federal Communications Commission: increase of 5.0% to $352.5 million.
Federal Election Commission: increase of 3.5% to $68.8 million.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: increase of 5.9% to $315.6 million
Federal Trade Commission: increase of 7.6% to $314 million, with the bulk of the increase going to the commission’s consumer-protection efforts. A smaller share would go to its antitrust office.
National Labor Relations Board: increase of 1.3% to $287.1 million.
Securities and Exchange Commission: increase 11.1% to $1.2 billion. The additional money would be directed throughout the agency’s divisions, including its enforcement division, which handles criminal investigations, and its corporate finance division, which oversees disclosure requirements. The plan anticipates the number of full-time, permanent employees to grow by 13% to 635.
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