[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 145 (Friday, October 7, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
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]

 
                  NEED TO PASS SEC FUNDING LEGISLATION

  Mr. RIEGLE. Mr. President, as time runs out in this Congress, there 
are many bills that should get done, but very few that must get done. I 
am taking the Senate floor to speak for a third time about a bill that 
must get done. I am referring to the urgent need to provide funding to 
the Securities and Exchange Commission. We face a very serious 
situation: the SEC has not yet been provided with funding sufficient to 
carry it through the new fiscal year that began on October 1.
  As I have mentioned the Senate, the Congress has provided the agency 
with only a portion of the funding that it needs for the next 12 
months. Legislation that would provide the needed full funding has 
passed the House of Representatives. That bill, H.R. 5060, is now at 
the Senate desk. It is crucial that the Senate immediately take up and 
pass this bill without amendment.
  In the absence of full funding, the SEC has begun preparing to shut 
down. Arthur Levitt, chairman of the SEC, wrote me earlier this week, 
stating, ``the SEC has been forced to suspend vital services.'' He 
noted that examinations of brokerages and investment advisers have been 
halted. The agency has had to stop seeking to recover funds from 
offshore accounts. The electronic filing system for all publicly traded 
companies will shut down on Tuesday. This will slow down the filing of 
securities registration statements, and increase their costs, for every 
public company in America. In addition, Congress' failure to pass the 
SEC funding bill has already cost the U.S. Treasury several million 
dollars, because of the reduced fee schedule now in place.
  Why has the Senate not yet acted on H.R. 5060? Because a few Senators 
have placed holds on the bill. They would like to use the SEC funding 
bill to advance unrelated tax provisions, and so have prevented the SEC 
bill from coming to the Senate floor.
  At this time of year, every Senator has a provision he or she would 
like to send through the Senate, I am sure many of the Senators who are 
holding up the SEC bill are seeking to advance provisions that, by 
themselves, have merit. It is counterproductive, however, to hold up 
the SEC bill in order to pursue unrelated provisions. It is costing the 
Federal Government money, and damaging an agency charged with the vital 
responsibility of policing our capital markets.
  If Congress adjourns without providing the needed funds, the SEC will 
have to shut down. This would be a catastrophe, because the SEC is 
crucial to the smooth operation of the capital markets that stand at 
the heart of our economy. The success of the U.S. financial markets is 
due, in large part, because the markets and their investors know that 
the SEC is a vigilant cop on the beat. Leaving the SEC in budgetary 
limbo needlessly places the stability of the markets and the personal 
savings of millions of individual investors at risk. In addition, it 
will cost the U.S. Treasury millions of dollars every week.
  This need not happen, if we pass H.R. 5060 without amendment. The 
language contained in H.R. 5060 passed the Senate earlier this year. It 
is crucial that the Senate take up and pass this legislation before 
adjournment, to protect the smooth operation of our markets, to ensure 
that investors are protected, and to guarantee the efficient operation 
of our Government. I urge all my colleagues to give their consent so 
that the Senate can take and pass this crucial bill.

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