Senate Banking Committee Advances SEC Chair Nominee in Party-Line Vote

The Senate Banking Committee voted Thursday (April 3) to advance President Donald Trump’s nominee as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Paul Atkins , to the full Senate, which will vote whether to confirm the appointment.

The committee’s vote was 13 to 11, along party lines, Reuters reported Thursday.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott of South Carolina said in remarks delivered before the vote that Atkins is a former SEC commissioner and “will promote capital formation and provide much-needed clarity for digital assets.”

“Under his leadership, the SEC will return to its core mission and will ensure our markets remain the envy of the world,” Scott said in the statement.

The committee’s ranking member, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said in remarks ahead of the vote that she would not vote to confirm Atkins or any of the nominees for other posts who were considered Thursday while the Trump administration is laying off federal government employees and “working to tear our federal government apart.”

Noting that Atkins previously served at SEC, Warren said: “Mr. Atkins was dead wrong in the lead-up to the worst financial crisis in a generation, and he has 20/0 hindsight about those mistakes. He has spent his post-government career helping billionaire scammers like CEO Sam Bankman-Fried get even richer.”

A Senate vote on whether to confirm the appointment has not been scheduled, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

Atkins is expected to “rein in SEC enforcement” and play a role in shaping regulation of the digital assets industry, according to the report.

After serving as an SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008, Atkins launched a consulting firm called Patomak Global Partners , which has worked with Wall Street firms, and held advisory roles at digital asset companies, per the report.

Atkins has a record of opposing strict enforcement efforts against big corporations, with records showing he voted against at least 10 enforcement actions during his time as SEC commissioner, PYMNTS reported Feb. 12.

He is also known to hold pro-cryptocurrency leanings, which is a marked change from his predecessor. Former SEC Chair Gary Gensler was a vocal crypto critic.