Press Releases

Today, Congressman Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee for the House Committee on Financial Services, delivered pointed questions to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler during a hearing on Capitol Hill. Rep. Huizenga pressed Chair Gensler on the SEC’s lack of transparency, accountability, and overall failure to produce documents regarding the agency’s proposed climate rule as well as documents surrounding the SEC’s charges against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Excerpts of Congressman Huizenga’s exchange with Chair Gensler are available below. 

Huizenga Hammers Chair Gensler for Failing to Send Requested Information Regarding the SEC Climate Rule and Instead Sends a Letter that Rep Huizenga Sent to Chair Gensler in 2021: In February, Chairman McHenry, Senator Scott, and I sent you in a request for documents and information on your climate disclosure rule. The fact is, other than a couple of emails that were private, you have produced only publicly available documents in response to that request. I am going highlight a couple of those. You sent us a copy of the public comment file on the rule. You sent us a copy of the rule itself, twice.  You sent a copy of your testimony the last time you appeared before this committee. You sent us a copy of your public calendar. You sent us copies of public speeches, testimony, and press releases from you and your fellow commissioners. You sent us a copy of a public FSOC report from 2021. 

The most interesting and frankly dumbest example of this that we received to date is the copy of a letter that myself and Chairman McHenry sent you congratulating you as being confirmed as Chair in 2021. I have that one in my file already. Frankly it is insufficient and unacceptable what has been going on. I think it is an embarrassment to you and to your team that you sent me a copy of the letter that I sent you and then try to call that responsive? That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. 

Further, your response letter to the Chairman and myself the SEC staff admitted that the proposed rule “could increase cost” related to energy prices under certain circumstances, but you provided no analysis – the actual information that we were looking for. Not my letter to you congratulating you on becoming Chair. We wanted the analysis on how the Commission determined that. 

SEC Chair Admits the agency is not a climate regulator … why is it proposing climate regulations? Under questioning from Congressman Huizenga, SEC Chairman Gensler admitted the SEC “is not a climate regulator.” Huizenga responds “amen to that” and continues to press Chairman Gensler on the SEC releasing the cost benefit analysis the agency used during the creation of its proposed climate rule. Chairman Gensler continues to stonewall congressional requests for these documents.

Huizenga closes his questioning by cautioning Chairman Gensler about hiding behind the Department of Justice and presses the SEC Chairman to turn over the requested documents surrounding SEC charges against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to Congress.