A Senate subcommittee has approved an Obama Administration budget request that would give the Securities and Exchange Commission 250 more advisor examiners.
The approval by the Democratic-controlled Financial Services Subcommittee, however, represents only the early innings of what has become an annual partisan faceoff over the agency's funding.
Last week, the subcommittee’s counterpart in the House voted to strip out that funding from the administration’s fiscal 2015 budget proposal. The full House Appropriations Committee is expected to follow suit on Wednesday.
The Senate budget measure would give the agency $1.7 billion while the House bill calls for $1.35 billion—the same amount the SEC is receiving in fiscal 2014.
In the three years Republicans have controlled the House, the SEC has never received the increases sought by Obama and usually has had to settle for the same or less funding as in the previous year, despite increased Dodd-Frank Act responsibilities.