Republican Bill Would Boost SEC Budget

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's fiscal 2012 budget will increase under a bill introduced by House Republicans on Thursday.

The SEC has been operating under last year's budget levels while Congress hashes out a massive spending bill to keep major parts of the government operating beyond the weekend.

If Democrats accept the Republican bill and help pass the legislation, the SEC budget would rise to $1.3 billion compared with the agency's current budget of $1.185 billion.

The SEC has been desperately seeking more money from Congress in order to be able to implement nearly 100 new rules required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street overhaul law.

Without the money, the agency has argued it will not be able to ramp up oversight of over-the-counter derivatives and hedge fund advisers as required by the law.

In addition, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro has previously warned that a lack of resources could also hinder the agency from bringing enforcement cases.

Under this bill, the SEC's fiscal 2012 budget fares better than the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which in November was denied a large budget boost.

Amid frustration by Republicans over the CFTC's handling of the Dodd-Frank implementation, the agency was only allotted a $205 million budget for fiscal 2012, which is $103 million less than what was requested by the Obama administration. (Additional reporting by Rachelle Younglai; Editing by Derek Caney)