Write to Congressman Richard Baker

Write to Congressman Dan Burton

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This page was last updated on May 8, 2001.

Support Pay Parity for the SEC

No single institution deserves more credit for the vitality and credibility of the U.S. financial markets than the Securities & Exchange Commission.

For years, the SEC has asked Congress to authorize it to pay its professional staff salaries that were comparable to those received by professional staff at federal banking agencies. SEC staff earn 24% to 39% less than attorneys, accountants and examiners at banking agencies.

As SEC attrition has increased each year, a staffing shortage has become a staffing crisis, with many of the most experienced, talented professional staff leaving for private industry salaries that are 3 or 4 times higher than their SEC salaries. The SEC has lost 30% of its professional staff over the last two years. In 1999, the SEC turnover rate was 13%, dwarfing the 5% rate af the Federal Reserve board.

The SEC isn't asking for parity with private enterprise pay. It is asking for salaries that are comparable to those earned by other highly skilled lawyers, accountants and examiners at specialized government agencies.

Pay parity legislation has been passed in the Senate, but it has been held up in the House, reportedly by Rep. Dan Burton, Chairman of the House Government Reform Committee. The Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises, of the House Committee on Financial Services, heard testimony on the bill on March 7. Richard Baker is the Chairman of that Subcommittee.

To express your support for pay parity for the SEC, please write to:

• The Honorable Richard Baker
  United States House of Representatives
  341 Cannon House Office Building
  Washington, D.C. 20515
  (print pre-written letter)
  (Baker, a Republican Congressman from Louisiana's Sixth District, is the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets)
• The Honorable Dan Burton
  United States House of Representatives
  2185 Rayburn House Office Building
  Washington, D.C. 20515
  (print pre-written letter)
  (Burton, a Republican Congressman from Indiana's Sixth District, is the Chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform)

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