The House Financial Services Committee advanced Republican-backed legislation that would scuttle the independent watchdog for accounting firms that audit publicly traded companies and would shift its duties to the SEC.

The legislation, if signed into law, would end a levy on companies and broker dealers used to fund the PCAOB. Rules and processes currently overseen by the board would carry over into the SEC, which would pursue oversight using taxpayer dollars.

The committee’s Republican majority seeks to defund the PCAOB as part of efforts across several committees to pass legislation funding the federal government. The panel approved the legislation, which would also reduce the budget for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in a 30 to 22 partisan vote on Wednesday.

Congress, in a widely supported bi-partisan effort, created the independently funded PCAOB in 2002 following multi-billion-dollar accounting scandals at Enron and Worldcom.

Before the evening vote, Democrats on the Financial Services Committee condemned efforts to eliminate the PCAOB, quoting Republicans who championed creation of the board such as former Rep. Michael Oxley from Ohio. Oxley chaired the committee from 2001 until 2007.

Closing the PCAOB would shift the burden for funding oversight of audits from publicly traded companies to taxpayers and risk a lapse in oversight by assigning to the SEC duties that it is currently ill-equipped to handle, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., told the committee before its vote. The SEC approves the PCAOB’s annual budget, which is close to $400 million.

Shutting down the PCAOB also risks reducing investor confidence in U.S. financial reporting and, in turn, dimming the appeal of U.S. capital markets, Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., told the committee.

“Why would somebody invest in American companies or those listed on American exchanges if they have no assurance that the auditors will be audited?” said Sherman, a CPA. “They know full well that’s necessary because they all lived through Worldcom, they all lived through Enron.”

PCAOB Chair Erica Williams criticized Republican efforts to wipe out the board calling the move deeply troubling.