Harvey Pitt, SEC chairman, thanked President Bush for providing an additional $100 million in the federal fiscal 2003 budget, allowing the commission to beef up enforcement of securities law. Mr. Pitt, responding to Mr. Bush’s call for tougher penalties for corporate fraud, said the SEC will hire more lawyers, accountants and other professionals.
Senate Democrats criticized the administration’s efforts as lip service. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., called on the administration to support Democratic pension reform legislation that has cleared the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and accounting and corporate responsibility legislation that has passed the Senate Banking Committee.
