House Spending Bill Cuts SEC Budget, Curbs CAT Data Collection

The cut in funds would limit the SEC’s “aggressive Enforcement Division to $644 million, which represents a $168 million decrease” from President Joe Biden’s budget request, according to a summary of the bill by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla.

Policy riders attached to the bill would also:

prevent the SEC’s proposed climate/ESG rulemaking, which would require public companies to disclose climate-related risks and emissions in their SEC filings;
prohibit the SEC’s proposed rulemaking on swing pricing, “which would artificially alter the share price in a one-size-fits-all manner,” according to Cole;
prohibit the SEC from implementing or enforcing Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121, which implements “harmful digital asset requirements,” according to Cole.

Both houses of Congress have voted on a bipartisan basis to repeal Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, which requires certain financial institutions that maintain custody of digital assets to hold them as liabilities on their balance sheets.