Update: The Subcommittee hearing has been postponed until a later date.
Tomorrow, the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, part of the House Financial Services Committee, will hold a hearing entitled “Examining the SEC’s Agenda: Unintended Consequences for U.S. Capital Markets and Investors.”
According to the Hearing memo, the gathering will discuss the rulemaking approach of the SEC Chair, Gary Gensler. The memo says the agenda has “sparked significant concerns:
“This includes a rapid push to propose and finalize numerous new rules, provide insufficient comment periods, neglect bipartisan congressional concerns, and push the bounds of the SEC’s statutory authority.”
The meeting will also discuss the operations of various SEC Divisions, including Corporate Finance.
Chairman Gensler has been criticized for his aggressive approach in formulating new rules that have surpassed previous administrations, stretching resources while vexing reporting firms. The Commission has also come under scrutiny for veering from its stated mission of regulating securities markets to tackle social issues – like the ESG sector. Currently, the SEC is working on climate impact disclosure, which has caused some to describe the SEC as the Securities and Environment Commission.
Witness for the hearing include:
- S.P. Kothari, Gordon Y Billard Professor of Accounting and Finance, MIT Sloan School of Management.
- Dalia Blass, Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
- Tom Quaadman, Executive Vice President, Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- Ken Bentsen, President and CEO, SIFMA
The hearing is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, October 24th, at 10 AM ET. It will be live-streamed on the Committee’s website.
