As the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues to ignore the warning signs that are attached to its regulatory overreach, politicians are asking more questions and bipartisanship is emerging. On Wednesday March 29, during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Republican lawmakers took the opportunity to question SEC Chair Gary Gensler on the Commission’s proposed climate disclosure rule.
Many Republicans, including Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), called out the SEC for its overstep into regulatory matters for which they have no jurisdiction. Rep. Hinson even said that she saw the SEC’s wild rulemaking as a “weaponization of the department.” This goes to show that quite a few lawmakers have an issue with what the SEC is trying to accomplish with their climate disclosure rule. It even surfaces the outright discontent that Congress has with the Commission’s actions.
After the SEC proposed their climate disclosure rule more than a year ago, Democrats and Republicans are now starting to see the eye-opening reality that stands before them. The SEC, under Gensler’s leadership, is trying to get their hands into any and all areas of the economy, but this is causing many to call on SEC Chair Gary Gensler to slow down and pump the brakes.
Earlier this month, the President of the Managed Funds Association, an association whose asset manager members are regulated by the SEC, highlighted the continuing call of opposition to the rule by lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum. Over the last few months, as pointed out by the Managed Funds Association President, more than 75 Democrats and Republicans have written letters to SEC Chair Gensler. Their appeals have called out Chair Gensler’s rapid paced rulemaking and urged him to consider the implications that the Commission’s rules would have on the retirement funds of millions of Americans.
The Commission’s recent actions have made it undoubtedly clear that they are willing to regulate any industry imaginable, without the mandated authority to do so. The climate disclosure rule has raised more questions and has received little to no answers in terms of the direction it is moving. With a decision scheduled to come in April, more people have much to say about the negative impacts the rule would cause to themselves, their businesses, and the fate of the federal rulemaking process.
Allowing the SEC to rapidly attempt to regulate such issues in which they lack the authority opens a can of worms that many regulatory agencies are starting to recognize. Many other agencies have even taken it upon themselves to craft their own rules, specific to their own interests. The bottom line, however, is always clear: the SEC should be nowhere near imposing unnecessary and burdensome rules that would jeopardize America’s prosperity.