“It is shameful that Wall Street’s allies in Congress have again failed to fund the very agencies that are charged with protecting Main Street and preventing another financial crisis. This sets the agencies up to fail by asking them to do much more than their budgets will allow. It’s like sending only half the cops to prevent crime on Wall Street without cars, radios, guns or bullets. That’s why there’s a crime spree on Wall Street,” said Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, Inc., an independent nonprofit organization that promotes the public interest in the financial markets.

 

“The only reason not to fully fund the CFTC and the SEC is to protect Wall Street profits, bonuses and reckless trading. This rewards Wall Street’s lobbyists and campaign cash while endangering American families. Such action is particularly indefensible because the SEC and the CFTC each bring in billions of dollars to the Treasury every year in fines, far in more than their budgets. In fact, providing more funds to these agencies would not only enable them to protect the American people, but would also increase revenue to the Treasury. That would be win-win for everyone except Wall Street and its many purchased allies, who will stop at nothing to defeat financial reform,” Mr. Kelleher concluded.

                                                                                                                  

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Better Markets is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that promotes the public interest in financial reform in the domestic and global capital and commodity markets. Better Markets advocates for transparency, oversight, and accountability with the goal of a stronger, safer financial system that is less prone to crisis and failure, thereby eliminating or minimizing the need for more taxpayer funded bailouts.