Despite Long List of Disqualifications, Senate Votes to Confirm Atkins to Lead the SEC
WASHINGTON — Voting largely along party-lines, the Senate confirmed Paul Atkins by a vote of 52-44 to serve as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday evening. His confirmation moved forward despite his long work history as a corporate advisor and lobbyist, a litany of crypto industry conflicts, and his weak record on enforcement when he was previously on the SEC. In response, Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate with Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, issued the following statement:
“As Trump stumbles, staggers, blunders, pinballs, and Roombas through a myopic economic policy, senators voted to confirm the wrong guy to lead the SEC. Atkins’ long history of statements and actions should have driven more caution by the Senate.
“As chair, Atkins will be in a precipitous role, reshaping the SEC, and could either vandalize it or improve protections for investors. Atkins must understand that the SEC must play a vital role on behalf of average Americans, not his consulting crypto firms, corporations, or securities scammers. This includes ensuring retail investors have access to transparent disclosures of firms’ climate-related financial risk as extreme weather, supply chain disruptions, and rapid repricing of fossil fuel assets reshape the global economy.”
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