Statement by SEC Chairman Harvey L. Pitt on the President's Speech on Corporate Responsibility

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2002-100

Washington, D.C., July 9, 2002 -- "We are grateful for the President's unqualified support of our request for an additional $100 million in our FY03 budget, in addition to $20 million in supplemental funding he approved three months ago, that now awaits Congress's approval. These resources will enable us to hire additional needed accountants, lawyers and other professionals for our enforcement and corporation finance efforts, fully fund our merit-based pay parity program and begin implementing critical information technology projects directly related to investor protection.

"In response to the President's March directives, we already have undertaken an unprecedented number of significant and broad-ranging initiatives to correct long-festering flaws in the current system. We are committed to forceful, aggressive, creative, and prudent efforts to revitalize and improve our system. We are proud to let our actions speak for us.

"The SEC is proud and eager to participate in the interagency Corporate Fraud Task Force the President has ordered, along with the Justice and Treasury Departments, as well as the CFTC, FERC, and FCC. We will make our accounting expertise and investigative resources available as requested, and we know that this task force will enhance our own investigations and enforcement actions."