House lawmakers traded barbs Tuesday over funding for two key agencies carrying out the Dodd-Frank Act.
At a press conference, Democrats from the Financial Services Committee blasted Republican proposals to block funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. They said that limiting funding during implementation of Dodd-Frank would impede the agencies' work.
"If funding is frozen at 2008 levels, these agencies cannot hire the staff needed to meet those rulemaking needs or provide necessary new oversight of the $600 trillion over-the-counter derivatives markets which caused so much of the financial meltdown," Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said in a prepared statement. "The efforts of Republicans to roll back funding levels this week are a back-door way to slow-walk the implementation of Dodd-Frank." She was joined at the press conference by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and ranking member Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.
But this triggered a quick response from Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., who said "all branches of government ... have to tighten their belts."
"Government agencies must learn to operate effectively within their budgets [as] American families and businesses do every day as we work to get our fiscal house in order," said Garrett, the chairman of the panel's capital markets subcommittee.
