The United States House is working on funding for watchdog agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Small Business Administration, and other agencies. But the senior Republican from Missouri says it’s too much.
The Democratic sponsor of the 24-billion dollar bill says it provides money to rebuild regulatory financial agencies that protect investors, consumers and taxpayers. It increases funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission by 76 million dollars and adds 33-million to the budget of the Federal Trade Commission. The Small Business Administration gets another 236-million.
But southeast Missouri Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson says the bill goes the wrong way at a time when she says the government is growing at an "incredible rate."
Emerson is the ranking member of the appropriations subcommittee that drafted the bill. She says majority Democrats are allowing only 17 Republican amendments to be offered—far fewer than Republicans had proposed.
As it is, she ways, the bill increased funding for these programs by seven percent from this year’s costs—more than the rate of inflation.
Upload Emerson’s statement on House floor (emdc 7:52)
