“Watchdog groups say the budget compromise unveiled by Congress this week drastically underfunds financial regulatory agencies and undermines the sweeping reform legislation that grew out of the financial crisis.

“‘It puts Americans at needless risk of another financial crisis,’ says Dennis Kelleher, president of Better Markets, an advocacy group.

“The spending bill includes $1.35 billion for the Securities and Exchange Commission, $29 million above the fiscal 2013 level but $324 million below President Obama’s budget request.

“But Kelleher’s biggest concern is the low funding levels that the $1.1 trillion fiscal 2014 spending bill allocates to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is tasked with overseeing derivatives that were at the center of the crisis. The bipartisan bill provides $215 million to the CFTC, $100 million less than President Obama’s budget request and $93 million less than the fiscal 2013 budget, according to the CFTC.”

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