Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2016 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill. As discussed below, the bill is eerily similar to the bill Congress passed four years ago — both bills appropriate $222 million less than the SEC requested, freeze the SEC’s budget at the prior year’s level, and prohibit the SEC from drawing upon an important reserve fund.
In 2010, it appeared that the SEC’s long-held goal of being self-funded was on the brink of occurring. Indeed, on June 16, 2010, House and Senate lawmakers were reported to be in agreement that the agency should be able to fund itself based on the fees it collected. Less than two weeks later, however, a last minute compromise between Senate and House negotiators finalizing the financial reform bill rejected self-funding.
