Republican congressmen seek to remove the figure of SEC chairman altogether.
Two Republican congressmen want to fire Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Gary Gensler and overhaul the SEC.
The “SEC Stabilization Act” calls to fire Gensler and restructure the SEC by eliminating the role of the chairperson, according to Warren Davidson, the congressman who introduced the bill together with House Majority Whip Tom Emmer.
The bill would remove the role of the SEC chair and replace it with six commissioners who would conduct “all rulemaking, enforcement, & investigations,” Davidson said in a tweet. It also proposes to create an executive director role for day-to-day operations.
Shared Control
The SEC Stabilization Act would prevent any political party from controlling more than three seats on the commission, according to FOX News, which also quoted Emmer as saying, “American investors and industry deserve clear and consistent oversight, not political gamesmanship.”
Davidson’s announcement has received significant attention online. More than 30,000 Twitter accounts have “liked” his post, while #FireGaryGensler was trending.
Escalating Tension
The proposed bill comes a week after the crypto space’s relationship with the SEC reached its most antagonistic level to date. The agency filed dual lawsuits against Coinbase, the largest digital asset exchange in the United States by volume, and Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume.
These filings, also labeled $5B-plus market capitalizations tokens like SOL, MATIC, and ADA, as securities.
Crypto Track Record
Davidson did not specifically mention digital assets on his Twitter account, but has previously proposed crypto-targeted legislation, like 2022’s Keep Your Coins Act. He is also part of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, a bipartisan group of congresspeople focusing on blockchain-enabled technologies.
Emmer gained approval from proponents of crypto with his incisive questioning of Gensler at a Financial Services Hearing in April. The congressman looked to highlight the SEC’s aggressive enforcement actions and absence of rulemarking during the hearing. He also emphasized that Gensler was the chairman of the SEC when both FTX and Terra collapsed last year.
Foreshadowing
Davidson also questioned Gensler at the April hearing where he foreshadowed today’s proposed bill — “Your record of failures to protect investors and abuses of power make it clear that we need to restructure the Securities and Exchange Commission,” he said.
Davidson used nearly identical language today when he said this legislation is meant to “fix abuse of power.”
“U.S. capital markets must be protected from a tyrannical chairman, including the current one,” Davidson said in a public statement.
