WASHINGTON — The House Appropriations Committee has unveiled a fiscal year 2015 bill that would fund the Securities and Exchange Commission at $1.4 billion — $50 million above the fiscal year 2014 level and $300 million below President Obama's budget request.
The increase in funds is intended to provide for information technology initiatives, the committee said in a release, an area where SEC chairman Mary Jo White has told lawmakers the commission needs more reserves. The legislation also includes a prohibition on the SEC spending any money out of its reserve fund, a pool of money that committee Republicans labeled "a slush fund for the SEC to use without any congressional oversight."
The legislation also contains requirements for the White House to report to Congress on the cost of the Dodd-Frank Act, and a prohibition on funding to require political donation information in SEC filings.
"This bill reflects common-sense decisions to place priority on programs and services that are effective, efficient, and essential to the financial health of our nation and the federal government's service to our people," said House Appropriations chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has not yet unveiled legislation for fiscal 2015, but did take testimony from White last month on the commission's budgetary needs.
In addition to the SEC, the House bill also includes funding for several other agencies, and features a $341 million cut for the Internal Revenue Service. The $10.95 billion granted to the IRS is $1.5 billion below Obama's request, and includes prohibitions on using funds to target groups or individuals based on their political, religious, or ideological beliefs. Rogers said in a statement that his committee targeted cuts to "lower-priority or poor-performing programs — such as the Internal Revenue Service."
The bill will be marked up in subcommittee Wednesday, the committee said in a release. It would then go to the full committee for approval before heading to the House floor.
