US Lawmaker Proposes SEC Stabilization Act To Oust ‘Tyrannical’ Chairman Gary Gensler

Chairman Gary Gensler of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) faces the possibility of being ousted from his position as House Republicans unveil a bill to overhaul the agency and remove its current chairperson.

On Monday, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) introduced the SEC Stabilization Act, which seeks to restructure the SEC and effectively remove Gensler from his post. The proposed legislation marks a significant move by Republican lawmakers in their efforts to challenge Gensler’s leadership.

“US capital markets must be protected from a tyrannical Chairman, including the current one,” Davidson said in a tweet, announcing that he has filed the SEC Stabilization Act.

“That’s why I’m introducing legislation to fix the ongoing abuse of power and ensure protection that is in the best interest of the market for years to come. It’s time for real reform and to fire Gary Gensler as Chair of the SEC,” the Ohio Congressman added.

“American investors and industry deserve clear and consistent oversight, not political gamesmanship,” House Majority Whip Emmer said in the press release, noting that “the SEC Stabilization Act will make common-sense changes to ensure that the SEC’s priorities are with the investors they are charged to protect and not the whims of its reckless Chair.”

Rep. Emmer, in a tweet Monday said that “the time to restore sanity to @SECGov is NOW.”

The SEC Stabilization Act, according to Representative Davidson, will not only fire Gensler but will distribute the power on “all rulemaking, enforcement and investigations” to six commissioners and will create an executive director role that will be in charge of the “day-to-day operations.”

Rep. Davidson has been contemplating the introduction of this legislation since April, aiming to rectify what he perceives as a prolonged string of abuses.

At the time, the Ohio Congressman noted that the bill would remove the position of the SEC chairman and would be replaced with “an Executive Director that reports to the Board (where authority resides).”

While commissioners of the agency will maintain investigative, rulemaking and enforcement authorities and be subjected to staggered six-year terms, the SEC Stabilization Act would prevent any political party from getting more than three seats in the agency and would have a structure similar to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).

The SEC has not yet released any comment regarding the issue but Gensler shared his remarks before the Piper Sandler Global Exchange & Fintech Conference on Monday.

In a tweet, the SEC chair said “there’s nothing about the crypto securities markets that suggests that investors & issuers are less deserving of the protections of our securities laws.”

He also quoted his remarks at the conference where he told the attendees that “with wide-ranging noncompliance, frankly, it’s not surprising that we’ve seen many problems in these markets. We’ve seen this story before. It’s reminiscent of what we had in the 1920s before the federal securities laws were put in place. Hucksters. Fraudsters. Scam artists. Ponzi schemes. The public left in line at the bankruptcy court.”