Mark Alford Presses SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins About Biden-Era Climate-Focused SEC Rules

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During a House Appropriations Committee hearing before the congressional recess, Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO) questioned SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins about climate change rules held by the SEC.

Transcript

00:00offer for any questions he has. Thank you, Chair, Ranking Member, and thank you,

00:05Mr. Ivey. Appreciate that. Thank you, Chairman Atkins, for being here today. This disastrous

00:10SEC climate disclosure rule propagated by former Chair Gensler would have required public

00:16companies to disclose climate-related information and registration statements and annual reports.

00:21The initial rule would have required companies to not only disclose their direct and indirect

00:26emissions from purchased energy, but also all indirect emissions occurring throughout an

00:31organization's value chain, also known as Scope 3 emissions. This reckless rule falls far outside

00:38the boundaries of the Commission's statutory authority. The SEC is a market regulator, as you

00:44know, not a climate regulator. So, Chair Atkins, the SEC has recently stated its ending defense of the

00:50rule. If you are no longer defending this rule in court, would you consider fully repealing it? Why

00:57or why not? Well, thank you, Congressman. Well, I think, you know, everything is, you know, under

01:04review in that respect, and the Eighth Circuit, where there is these various lawsuits have been

01:12consolidated, has posed some questions to us, you know, with respect to what our plans are. So, we will

01:19be coming out. I'm actively talking to the staff and to my colleagues about, you know, the way

01:25forward. And one thing I do want to hasten to add is that, you know, the climate rule that was

01:31promulgated by the SEC last year is just one thing that affects American companies. You should just do

01:37not lose sight of the fact that in Europe there is the corporate sustainability due diligence directive and

01:44other aspects that will affect, it has extraterritorial effect that will affect American companies. And

01:53that's hotly under debate in Europe right now. And I'm concerned about that as well. So, please keep

01:59that on your radar. But just yesterday, I think Friedrich Merz in Germany came out with, you know, some

02:07statements about the dangers of that CSDD. But in general, do you support the SEC climate disclosure rule?

02:13No, I've been, before I got there, I've been publicly critical of it. So, you know, I share your

02:21concern about everything that you and Congresswoman Henson were talking about. So, the House Financial

02:28Services Committee's portion of the one big beautiful bill contains a provision that would

02:31transfer the public company accounting oversight boards authority directly to the SEC. This follows

02:36the Biden administration's blatant politicalization of the PCAOB by voting along partisan lines to remove

02:42former Chair Dunkey and filling all five board seats with handpicked Democrat cronies. How would

02:49moving the PCAOB directly into the SEC make them more accountable to us in Congress and prevent

02:55future politicization of the board's authority? Well, thank you, Congressman. The, well, obviously,

03:03that is up to you all in Congress to decide what to do with the public company accounting oversight board.

03:10It's a creature of Dodd-Frank. And so, I, you know, we'll obviously accommodate whatever you all decide.

03:16I, as I mentioned earlier, I think, you know, we are fully capable of taking on those duties that the

03:24PCAOB does. And obviously, we would need resources to do that. But, you know, the, you know, the, we'll be

03:33looking, obviously, at, at all of this as time goes on this, this year. Consolidated audit trail or CAAT's

03:38requirements for brokers to submit investors personally, personally identifiable information is pretty

03:44concerning. We all know our federal financial regulators, uh, abysmal record of protecting American

03:49sensitive information. Last year, a rogue CFPB employee made an unauthorized transfer of sensitive records. Um, will you

03:57commit to reviewing whether continued investment in the CAAT is justified given what's been going on?

04:02Absolutely. I assure your concern on, on those various points. And, uh, so we will, uh, we'll, we will

04:11review, um, where we stand with, uh, cons, consolidated audit trail, its costs and, uh, vulnerabilities.

04:17Well, thank you, Chair, for being here. And I yield back.

04:20Thank you, sir. And with that, we're out of time. Just kidding, Mr. Ivy. Calm down.

04:27Chair now recognizes the gentleman from Maryland.

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