June 25, 2024
Washington DC - Today, Ranking Member Tim Scott (R.S.C.) was joined by Senate Banking Committee Member Sen. Kevin Cramer (R.N.D.), Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.-01), and 32 additional members of Congress to submit a bicameral request. amicus curiae brief in Texas Power Producers Alliance, et al. v. SEC, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to strike down the agency's climate disclosure rule. Ranking member Scott has led the fight in Congress against the radical government.
The brief states, “The SEC, as a securities regulator, is not empowered to impose sweeping climate-related regulations on publicly traded companies.. Congress has demonstrated a historic reluctance to pass broad climate legislation, particularly legislation that would dramatically affect federal securities law disclosure requirements. “The SEC’s overreach in climate regulation violates the separation of powers and primary issues doctrine, justifying invalidation of the rule.”
The writing continues, “What further highlights the lack of authorization for the SEC's Climate Rule is its conflict with fundamental principles of federal securities law that have existed for decades. Specifically, the Climate Rule contravenes the materiality principle, a cornerstone of federal securities law. […] The SEC's historical position and the Supreme Court's interpretation affirm that immaterial information should not be subject to mandatory disclosure. By focusing on environmental impacts rather than financial materiality, the Climate Rule deviates from the SEC's legal mandate. Accordingly, the disclosure requirements of the Climate Rule conflict with established provisions of federal securities law and should be rescinded.”
Click here to read the amicus curiae brief.
BACKGROUND:
Under Gensler's chairmanship, the SEC has pursued one of the most aggressive regulatory agendas in the agency's history, with the agency on track to propose and finalize more than 60 rules with limited public comment periods and inadequate cost-benefit analyses. Through rigorous Congressional oversight, Ranking Member Scott has continued to push back against the widespread impact and confusion created by the agency’s proposed rules on our capital markets, American retirement savers, and businesses of all sizes.
In February 2023, Ranking Member Scott, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R.N.C.-10), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga (R -Mich.-04), they sent a letter to President Gary Gensler demanding records and other information related to the proposed climate disclosure rule, including responses to previous requests from numerous members of both the House and Senate that Chairman Gensler has not provided. Republican leaders emphasized that the proposed rule exceeds the mission, expertise and authority of the SEC and, if finalized in any form, will unnecessarily harm consumers, workers and the American economy.
Last June, Ranking Member Scott teamed up with House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.-01) to demand answers of the SEC about its role in facilitating the European Union's (EU) progressive climate agenda, which could be imposed on American companies. Despite continued requests, the SEC has failed produce documents about its involvement in EU climate disclosure policies, as well as social and labor justice initiatives, which would harm a wide range of US companies and weaken US capital markets. The SEC's actions and repeated obstacles to congressional oversight are especially concerning given that implementing EU policies would bypass US regulatory and legal processes and allow foreign governments to dictate climate and economic policies to American companies.
At a hearing in September, the ranking member held down Chairman Gensler on the agency's aggressive rulemaking, lack of transparency, and lack of response to congressional investigations. Ranking Member Scott had asked that the president testify. from February 2023. After the hearing, Capitol Account highlighted Chairman Gensler's refusal to respond to requests for congressional oversight made by minority members of the Senate Banking Committee.
Following the SEC's announcement on the final climate disclosure rule, Ranking Member Scott declared his intention to use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) process to fight the rule and its implementation, calling it “federal overreach at its worst.” In April, ranking member Scott inserted the CRA resolution to repeal the rule with support from every Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, members of the entire Republican conference, and Sen. Joe Manchin (IW.Va.).
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