SEC rips OPM opposition to pay raise

A war of words over a proposed salary increase for SEC personnel continued on Friday, with Securities and Exchange Commission Acting Chairwoman Laura Unger issuing a curt retort to the Office of Personnel Management, which this week claimed the SEC's request was untenable.

In a letter to House Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind., Unger said she took issue with OPM's suggestion that the SEC has failed to explore all pay options under the law, including recruitment bonuses and retention allowances.

OPM, in a letter to Burton earlier this week, largely buttressed Burton's view that the scope of the pay raise requested by the SEC is too broad.

"While OPM recently allowed the commission to reinstitute special pay, this temporary and partial solution does not provide long-term relief to that the SEC needs to address its recruitment and retention problems," Unger said.

She also chided OPM's suggestion that additional study is needed.

"As I have told you before, the agency faces a staffing crisis today," Unger wrote. "We cannot wait much longer before the staffing crisis leads to a regulatory shortcoming."

The Senate already has approved pay increase legislation for the SEC. House leaders sought earlier this year to bring similar legislation to the floor, but objections by Burton have slowed it down.