“The budget request that President Barack Obama sends to Congress Tuesday will request $280 million for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in fiscal 2015 — a $65 million increase from its current budget but less than the $315 million he proposed last year. The news Friday alarmed financial reform advocates and left others wondering why the White House scaled back its aspirations.

The agency took on many new responsibilities to oversee the swaps market under the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, and CFTC officials have long warned that they need more resources. Last year, former CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler announced staff furloughs because the agency’s budget was so tight.

The decision to cut the budget request is “wrong by every measure and a disservice to the American people,” Better Markets President Dennis Kelleher said. “It is bad policy, politics, economics and sends the wrong message.”

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