| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: | CONTACT: Jesse Jacobs - 202-224-4524 |
| Thursday, October 24, 2002 | Craig Davis - 202-224-7391 |
SARBANES ENCOURAGED BY BUSH ADMINISTRATION
OFFICIALS' COMMENTS ON INCREASING FUNDING FOR
THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Senator Paul S. Sarbanes (D-MD), Chairman of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, today said he was "encouraged" that the Bush Administration is sounding more committed to providing a boost in funds for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Sarbanes wrote to President Bush on October 18, urging the Administration to fund the SEC at $776 million, the figure that was included in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which was signed into law by President Bush on July 30.
Sarbanes was responding to an interview by CNN's Tim O'Brien of Office and Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels during CNN's Lou Dobbs Moneyline on October 23 where Daniels said that "If Harvey Pitt [the SEC Chairman] needs that amount of money to do the job, we will find it."
"I am encouraged that Administration officials are expressing the need to boost the funds at the SEC at this critically important juncture as the agency's workload has increased in light of the corporate scandals and passage of the accounting reform legislation," said Sarbanes.
The question by O'Brien and Daniels' response follows:
Tim O'Brien: "The White House touched off a furor earlier in this month, proposing to lop $200 million off the new SEC budget. But officials now promise that whatever SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt needs, he will get. Even the full $776 million Congress approved, if necessary."
Director Mitch Daniels, Office of Management and Budget: "It's very, very common for bills to be authorized at one level, and finally appropriated at something slightly different. But that could be the right number. If Harvey Pitt needs that amount of money to do the job, we will find it."
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