President Obama has requested a 50 percent budget increase for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to help it carry out its duties in the financial reform act in fiscal 2013.

The $308 million budget request -- the same as Obama sought last year -- would allow the commission to finalize and implement several rules under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The rules aim to rein in excessive speculation in the oil and gas futures markets and regulate the $300 trillion swaps market.

"The challenge before the agency is significant but manageable, provided we are sufficiently resourced," CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler wrote in an introduction to the budget request.

The commission is operating under a $205.3 million budget signed into law in November in a final appropriations package for the departments of Agriculture, Transportation and Commerce. The amount is not sufficient to carry out Dodd-Frank, the commission said.

During fiscal 2011, the commission published 59 proposed rules and finalized 15 under Dodd-Frank. From now on, the commission said, it will accelerate the pace of finalizing rules; it expects to finalize 45 in fiscal 2012.

By fiscal 2013, the commission expects it will be fully implementing the Dodd-Frank law, many aspects of which have been delayed past the original deadlines set by Congress.

With full implementation of the law, the commission expects the amount of exchanges and trading platforms under its jurisdiction will triple. It also expects to increase its surveillance and enforcement technology.

"A well-funded CFTC is a good investment for the American public," Gensler wrote.

"Without sufficient funding ... the nation cannot be assured that this agency can oversee the futures and swaps markets, that customers are protected and that the public gets the benefit of transparent markets and lower risk."