Frank finds few friends among GOP for SEC amendment

Karin Davenport, Renacci’s press secretary, said Renacci does not agree with Dodd-Frank’s regulatory overreach, but at the same time said he does not think Congress should take money away from the agency without first changing the law.

“The SEC would still be statutorily bound to conduct all of this new work, just with less money, so their legitimate market regulation, investigation and enforcement duties would suffer,” she said.

Three other Republicans voted for Frank’s amendment: Reps. Jim Gerlach (Pa.), Tom McClintock (Calif.) and Cliff Stearns (Fla.).

Before the vote, the amendment was sharply criticized by Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), who said the SEC’s budget has been doubled in the past decade, even as the SEC has failed to detect and stop various Ponzi schemes and can’t produce an accurate financial statement of its own activities. Republicans also said they oppose pulling money from other agencies in order to increase SEC funding.