Via National Journal:
President Obama bumped up his proposed budgets for the agencies charged with implementing the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. It’s wishful thinking on his part. History indicates that the agency budgets are unlikely to make it through Congress without significant cuts. Since Dodd-Frank, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have been targets for Republican criticism – and budget cuts.
On Monday, President Obama proposed an 11 percent increase in funding for the SEC, to $1.57 billion up from $1.41 billion last year. He requested the same level of funding for the CFTC. Both the SEC and CFTC saw their budgets slashed by Congress last year, with the SEC receiving $1.3 billion and the CFTC $205 million, down from Obama’s requested $308 million.
Obama estimated that the CFPB would require $448 million in 2013, an increase of $118 million from the previous year. The CFPB is not subject to the congressional appropriations process; it is funded by the Federal Reserve and can tap up to 12 percent of the central bank’s total operating budget.