Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, delivered the following statement during a full Committee hearing entitled, “Oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission.”

“Thank you very much,

Mr. Chairman. You and I have a very different understanding about what is happening at the SEC. Chairman Atkins said it is ‘a new day for the SEC.’ What did he mean? Did he really mean that this SEC is now putting Wall Street and billionaires first, and America’s investors last.

Since his tenure began, Chairman Atkins has:

• Withdrawn 14 major proposals that would have protected retail investors;
  
• Dismissed cases and investigations against Trump’s crypto billionaire friends;
  
• Pared back corporate disclosures that provide the public with critical information;
  
• Moved to let private equity dump their failing investments onto unsuspecting investors;
  
• Restricted shareholders’ ability to influence the companies they own;
  
• Halted the SEC’s defense of the climate disclosure rule, even as the wildfires in California show there are material risks; and,
  
• Cut SEC staffing by roughly 20%.
  

And, at the same time, the President, along with his family and closest advisors, continues to enrich themselves through what appear to be insider trading and self-dealing in both the equity and crypto markets. The SEC under Chairman Atkins has yet to investigate a single instance of the potential large-scale fraud and market abuse being brazenly carried out by this Administration and its allies.

The SEC is also supposed to be an independent Commission, free from political influence. At his confirmation hearing, Chairman Atkins said, ‘I want to take politics out of financial markets.’ And yet in many of his public speeches, he has repeatedly pledged his loyalty to Trump more than sixteen times. That is remarkable for the head of a supposedly independent agency.

Additionally, today the SEC does not have a single Democratic commissioner. Again, this is extraordinary. And the SEC is not making policy in an open and bipartisan manner, with the usual public notice-and-comment process. Instead, Atkins’ SEC appears to take its orders directly from the President, and avoids public comment at all costs.

None of this should come as a surprise. Over the past year, the Executive Branch—and Congress under Republican control—have become nothing more than a rubber stamp for carrying out Donald Trump’s personal agenda. From his arbitrary and inflationary tariffs; to the use of public office to enrich himself and his friends through corrupt dealmaking; to the weaponization of the DOJ against political enemies; to repeated attempts to undermine the midterm elections; to sending his own personal brownshirt-style army into our communities that have killed Americans and terrorized our cities and towns—it is clear the federal government no longer functions for the people and by the people. It functions solely for Trump, and by Trump.

By not enforcing the rule of law against the President and his friends who are openly engaged in grift and corruption, Chairman Atkins is aiding and abetting this reckless and unlawful agenda.

Chairman Hill, it certainly is a new day at the SEC: a Wall Street and billionaire holiday.

I yield back.”

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