RJ and Makay

Despite its long battle for a much larger budget to cover current activities and comply with new financial reform laws, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) only received a modest budget increase that's not nearly as much as it says it needs.

In the budget agreement finalized late Friday night to avoid a government shutdown, the SEC is slated to receive a $74 million increase to its current budget for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The House and Senate are scheduled to vote on the budget measure this week.

Michael Oxley, the former Republican congressman from Ohio best known for co-authoring the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, has registered as a lobbyist for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). His goal, as stated on his registration form: to work on the “harmonization of regulation of broker-dealers and investment advisors.”

Translation: to promote a self-regulatory organization (SRO) for investment advisors.

U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus (R., Ala.) was nominated by a 34-member committee of senior House Republicans to chair the House Financial Services Committee. Rep. Ed Royce (R. Calif) had also been in the running, but Bachus has been the top Republican serving on the panel for the past four years and has been the favorite to take over the committee from current Chairman Barney Frank (D., Mass) when Republicans assume control of the House in January. He still must be approved by the wider conference on Wednesday, December 8, but GOP leadership aides say the party’s lawmakers have always endorsed a committee chair recommended by a steering committee.

Bachus has been an advocate of capping taxpayer exposure to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and would like to see the two agencies either placed into liquidation or be forced to compete in the private market. According to aides working for Bachus, he plans to conduct strict oversight of the Obama administration during the implementation of the financial regulatory law mandates. During the process of passing the financial services reforms, Bachus was initially out of favor with Republicans in 2008 because he seemed to be supporting the financial services bail-out without first clearing his position with party leaders, but later, he was instrumental in effectively preventing the Democrats from concluding work on the bill too quickly.