OPINION:
President Trump was never a threat to democracy, but he is absolutely a threat to bureaucracy. Now that Paul Atkins has been confirmed to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, we urge him to follow the president’s whole-of-government approach to reining in the out-of-control administrative state.
Over four years, the Biden SEC was sanctioned for lying to a federal court, wasted millions of taxpayer dollars writing and defending numerous illegal rulemakings, missed one of the largest financial frauds in American history, used lawfare to intimidate and extort American businesses, and openly disregarded its mandate to promote small-business capital formation.
Bringing efficiency and much-needed reform to an agency that has lost the public’s trust and confidence will be no easy task, but having known Mr. Atkins for many years, I know there is no one better or more qualified for the job at this important time in our nation’s history.
The public needs the SEC to be a fair, just and effective regulator. To do that, the agency must adhere to the rule of law and adopt regulations that promote a fair and level playing field for all market participants. The SEC should not politicize our capital markets with culturally divisive issues.
To restore confidence in the SEC, Mr. Atkins should pull back all authorities previously delegated to unaccountable career staff within the agency. These bureaucrats were granted wide latitude to make consequential decisions about enforcement matters, rulemaking authority, and whether a company must answer a politically motivated shareholder proposal. Decisions like this must be made by the Senate-confirmed commissioners of the SEC.
Mr. Atkins should also refocus the SEC on its core mission. One part of that mission is to “facilitate capital formation,” which helps small and growing businesses raise the capital they need to expand and create jobs. Unsurprisingly, the Biden SEC completely ignored this mission. Mr. Atkins has an opportunity to be aggressive and remove the numerous regulatory roadblocks that prevent small businesses from becoming large ones.
By the end of his presidency, the public came, rightly, to view Biden SEC as an activist organization whose ends justified the means. The agency used every tool to target politically disfavored citizens, businesses and industries to generate revenue through fines for the U.S. Treasury. Mr. Atkins can immediately reverse the public’s perception by returning the SEC to a tough but fair regulator that focuses on stopping fraud and preventing scams and not engaging in lawfare.
The era of career bureaucrats and political elites weaponizing federal agencies to target private citizens and businesses whose politics they don’t like is over. Depoliticizing the SEC by ending regulatory intimidation, frivolous document requests and the use of creative lawyering by the enforcement division should be a top priority for Mr. Atkins.
Mr. Trump was elected on a popular mandate to end the “soft-authoritarianism” of the last administration and rebuild the relationship between American citizens and their federal government. This moment presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fundamentally reform the SEC, and Mr. Atkins is the right man to do it.
• Christopher A. Iacovella is the president and CEO of the American Securities Association.
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