Not A Way to Run the Investor Watchdog of the Securities Markets

The SEC is underfunded.  Lawyers don't receive the nessary training.  Cases must be litigated with one hand tied behind the agency's back, with limited travel budgets and a lack of funding for experts.  Rules and offices required under Dodd-Frank languish.

All of this reminds us of the effort by the Commission to obtain approval for self-funding.  The matter ultimately failed.  The culprits?  Obstreperous opponents of regulation?  Supporters of Wall Street?  Not quite.  As the WSJ reported a year or so ago.

• There was a bit of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill today: Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, chairman of a Senate appropriations panel, and Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine were united in opposing calls to remove the SEC from the budget process.

While Congress is rightfully loathe to give up control over the budgetary process, sometimes its necessary if there is any expectation that the relevant body will fulfill its regulatory mission.  Perhaps the trials and tribulations of the SEC under current circumstances will be remembered by those in Congress when the self-funding issue returns.