Chairman Wagner, Ranking Member Sherman: my name is Tom Quaadman, Executive Vice President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s (Chamber) Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness (CCMC). Thank you for the opportunity to testify today regarding the regulatory agenda at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the Biden Administration.
The SEC plays a central role to the function of U.S. capital markets, and as such, its rulemaking agenda has significant consequences. The Chamber agrees that the rules governing the marketplace should be updated from time to time to account for market development. However, since 2021, rulemaking at the SEC has been torrential, disjointed, and rushed, and has not allowed appropriate time for stakeholder evaluation or engagement on its proposed rules. The Commission’s robust agenda and expedited pace has prompted hurried work at the Commission, resulting in inadequate cost-benefit analyses and errors. The Chamber is concerned that, under current leadership, the SEC is moving away from its historical role as an impartial market regulator and is increasingly becoming a politicized agency to the detriment of American companies and the competitiveness of U.S. capital markets. The SEC’s tripartite mission of investor protection, capital formation, and fair, orderly, and efficient markets has allowed the SEC to maintain its reputation as a “sober” market regulator, but with the Commission’s expansive and policy-driven agenda, that hallmark of the agency may be in jeopardy.