Chair

Degen

Gary

Capitol

The Senate Appropriations Committee has proposed reducing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) budget for the 2025 financial year to $2.23 billion. The new figure is below the $2.59 billion the commission requested, sparking concerns that it could have a major impact on the commission’s operations, including its employee benefits.
According to Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terret, the SEC Union had <a href="https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/1820540465609130052" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">accused</a> its chair, Gary Gensler, of prioritizing other forms of expenditure over employees’ benefits. This led to major cuts in benefits for agency employees this year, which could extend to 2025 if the proposed reduction stands.
<h3 id="span-style-font-weight-400-gensler-spending-affects-employees-benefits-span">Gensler spending affects employees’ benefits</h3>
The Union representing the commission’s employees <a href="https://www.secunion.org/news/chair-genslers-employee-benefits-cuts" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">reported</a> earlier this year that some of their employees’ benefits were cut after the passage of the budget for the 2024 financial year. Benefits affected by the cuts include student loan repayments, special act cash awards, and some of the monthly contributions the agency makes to employee retirement plans.
Although the Union admitted that the cut was a political decision, it blamed Gensler for increasing spending on other areas based on the assumption that the regulator would get its proposed budget approved by Congress. It noted that Gensler ignored signs that the budget approval would not happen.
The Union wrote:
<blockquote>
 “The Chair bet that the SEC would receive an increase in its funding for FY 2024—even though astute observers could clearly see that a level budget was a highly probable outcome of the political dysfunction on Capitol Hill. In effect, Chair Gensler wagered with your compensation and benefits, knowing that his staff would suffer the consequences if he lost the bet. Now the bill for that decision has come due.”
</blockquote>
Meanwhile, they also accused Gensler of not showing concern for the SEC workforce by refusing to even dialogue with the Union on future compensations.
People within the crypto community have <a href="https://x.com/reedvoid/status/1820547169369440766" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">reacted</a> to the news as an indication that Gensler is the problem with the SEC and needs to go. Uniswap CEO Hayden Adams <a href="https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/1820546293678383258" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">noted</a> that SEC employees are treated the same way the commission treats crypto companies. He said, “Seems like SEC employees are treated about as well by their leadership as crypto companies are.”
Crypto attorney Gabriel Shapiro jokingly <a href="https://x.com/lex_node/status/1820621430976922021" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">said</a> the Gensler is just a Degen like the crypto traders he has been going after. The only difference is that his own gambling is with “his staff’s salaries.”
<h3 id="span-style-font-weight-400-reduced-funding-could-affect-the-sec-s-crypto-campaign-span">Reduced funding could affect the SEC’s crypto campaign</h3>
Meanwhile, the proposed cut in funding could limit the SEC’s ability to <a href="https://www.cryptopolitan.com/coinbase-asks-for-transparency/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">go after the crypto industry</a>. Part of the new budget has been earmarked for beefing up the Division of Examinations by adding 23 new roles. The Division is responsible for conducting evaluations of various market participants.
While seeking the funding, Gensler had emphasized the agency’s effort to police the crypto sector, noting that the industry has turned into a <a href="https://www.cryptopolitan.com/sec-drop-allegations-against-sol-matic/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Wild West</a> with several incidences of noncompliance and speculation. Therefore, the regulator has more responsibility to protect consumers in the industry,
At the time, the SEC <a href="https://www.sec.gov/files/fy-2025-congressional-budget-justification.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">said,</a> “We’ve seen the Wild West of the crypto markets, rife with noncompliance, where investors have put hard-earned assets at risk in a highly speculative asset class. Such growth and rapid change also mean more possibility for wrongdoing. As the cop on the beat, we must be able to meet the match of bad actors.”
Notably, this is the lowest funding the SEC has received since last year. Meanwhile, the fact that a Democratic-party-led Senate is proposing a cut suggests that the SEC could face a tougher time when the budget gets to the House.

US Senate committee proposes SEC budget cut for 2025

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