So much for strapped: SEC’s spending has nearly tripled over the last decade
Contrary to some congressional leaders' recent claims that the SEC has been starved for resources, the agency's budget has grown significantly over the past decade.
Contrary to some congressional leaders’ recent claims that the SEC has been starved for resources, the agency’s budget has grown significantly over the past decade.
From 1998 through 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s actual total spending, which differs somewhat from its approved budgets, went from $311 million to $905 million — a 191% increase, according to an analysis of data from the SEC.
The SEC enjoyed a string of double-digit spending increases since 2001, including a 27% increase in 2003 and a 22% increase in 2004.
After the accounting scandals at Enron Corp., WorldCom Inc. and other companies, the SEC got large budget increases in 2003. In fact, it couldn’t spend $103 million of its $716 million budget that year.
The agency’s spending fell 1.1% in 2006 and 0.2% in 2007.
Nevertheless, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said yesterday that he will propose legislation next week that would significantly increase the SEC’s budgets by letting the agency keep all the money it raises from fees.
In 2007, the SEC brought in $1.54 billion in fees, while its budget was $881.6 million, Mr. Schumer said in a statement.
Mr. Schumer announced his plans the day after the SEC’s inspector general released a damning summary of a report that detailed how the SEC bungled the detection of the Bernard Madoff fraud.
“The SEC has been starved for resources,” Mr. Schumer told reporters yesterday.
Not everyone agrees that more money would cure the SEC’s failings.
“The disasters we have seen did not arise due to lack of resources for the Federal Reserve, the SEC or any of the other agencies that didn’t perform,” former SEC Chairman Richard Breeden said in congressional testimony last March.
“When agencies have too many resources, they tend to become unwieldy, not more vigilant or effective,” he told Congress.
Mr. Breeden, who now runs Breeden Capital Management LLC, a Greenwich, Conn., private-equity firm, was not available for an interview.
SEC spokesman John Nester declined to comment.
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