[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 145 (Friday, October 7, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 7, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                   SEC BUDGET HELD HOSTAGE IN SENATE

  (Mr. DINGELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, last week I came to the floor to 
congratulate the SEC on its 60th anniversary. Today I take the well to 
inform the American people that the SEC is being forced to shut down 
because its budget is being held hostage by rolling Senate Republican 
holds.
  A Senate aide was quoted in today's Washington Post: ``It has nothing 
to do with the SEC, it's just a kind of game Congress plays in the 
final days of every session.'' Well, this is not a game to me. It is 
not a game to the House, which passed SEC funding twice, only to have 
the other body drop the ball. It is not a game to the American people 
who should be outraged.
  The antics in the other body are adding to the Federal budget deficit 
to the tune of $1 million per day due to lost filing fees. The tab at 
the close of business yesterday was $10 million and counting. 
Corporations are shrewdly and fairly exploiting a loophole created by 
the other body, making filings before the SEC at 50 percent off.
  Without an operating budget, the SEC has had to curtail all 
enforcement activities, and all examinations of broker-dealers, 
investment advisers, and mutual funds. The crooks will have a field 
day, rascality will reign and the financial wellbeing of millions of 
small investors put at risk.
  Next week, the SEC will have to shut down its electronic filing 
system, thus crippling our capital-raising process and costing millions 
of dollars to the industry. The SEC will also be without the ability to 
respond to market emergencies, greatly exacerbating both risk and size 
of any serious downturn. This outrageous situation poses a serious 
threat to the world's leading capital market and to the dedicated 
agency and its excellent staff that has served as the cop on Wall 
Street.
  This is a situation which threatens the welfare of millions of 
investors, large and small, exposes them and our financial system to 
unnecessary and large risk, costs the taxpayers millions and imperils 
our financial system.
  I urge the other body to move swiftly to curtail this egregious 
behavior and to restore full protection to the American people.

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