SEC's Shapiro Warns of Government Shutdown's Impact on Agency

Part of the cuts would be achieved by cutting spending at federal agencies to levels below those of 2008. In testimony before Congress last month, Schapiro said that under such a scenario, the SEC would have to slash its budget by $241 million, eliminate about 1,000 positions and “dramatically” curtail examinations of both public companies and agents and brokers regulated by the agency.

In her comments today, Schapiro said the cuts in the SEC budget would mean “fewer cops on the beat, even though fraudsters show no sign of backing off.”

She said it also “means we cannot hire the qualified experts eager to help us keep pace with the ever-evolving financial markets. It means cancelling IT initiatives that would help us analyze market data faster and financial information more cost-effectively. It means bringing cases to trial without expert witnesses or the information our digital forensics lab could have discovered on laptops or iPhones.”

Moreover, Schapiro said, “Insufficient funding for the SEC means an investor protection effort hobbled at a time when the events of the last decade have proved that effective enforcement of the securities laws is more important than ever.”

In her comments, she said that, “We are dedicated to being the most effective SEC ever.

“We’ve acknowledged past mistakes,” she said. “We have changed structure and culture. And we are winning back the respect of market participants and observers.”

But, she said, “we cannot do our jobs as well as American investors need and deserve, if we cannot hire the people, build the systems and make the changes necessary to protect our markets and support job creation.”