The SEC apparently has lost its fight to retain a key section of the Dodd-Frank Reform Act that would have allowed the SEC to keep secret nearly all information it gathers during investigations.  The House on Thursday repealed that language and approved the bill by voice vote, prior to sending it onto President Obama for his signature.  The Senate unanimously approved the bill on Wednesday.  A White House spokesperson would not say whether the President would sign the bill. 

The provision that Congress wants rolled back exempted the SEC from being compelled under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to release confidential material it gathered while examining financial firms.  In the weeks after the bill was passed, Republicans and Democrats in both houses began to object to the provision, which some said gave the SEC a blank check to keep materials secret.  SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro testified last week against removing the exemption.

But an S.E.C. spokesman said Thursday that the agency “appreciated the opportunity to work with Congress on this legislation and will continue to work with lawmakers to ensure proper balancing of the public’s interest in disclosure with effective supervision.”  Darrell Issa (R-Ca), who's the ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said:

• Repealing the section would “ensure that the SEC will be held to the highest possible standard of accountability and transparency.”
• “Democrats and Republicans agree that we cannot allow the SEC, a regulatory body that failed to catch Allen Stanford’s fraud and Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, to operate in secrecy.” ..  [NYTimes, 9/24]