April 13, 2021

Brown Takes to Senate Floor to Urge Colleagues to Support Gary Gensler’s Nomination to Lead SEC

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) – Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs – took to the Senate Floor to urge his colleagues to confirm Gary Gensler as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Video of the remarks can be found here.

Brown’s remarks on the Senate Floor, as prepared for delivery, are below:

Mr./Mme. President,

I urge my colleagues to support President Biden’s nominee to be Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler.

In March, Gary Gensler appeared before the Banking and Housing Committee for his nomination hearing and the Committee advanced him to the full Senate on a bipartisan vote. 

Mr. Gensler is an experienced public servant with a strong record of holding Wall Street accountable. And he will lead the SEC at a time when it’s become more and more obvious to most people that the stock market is detached from the reality of working families’ lives.

Mr. Gensler will bring the SEC’s focus back to the people who make this country work, and push to ensure that markets are a way for families to save and invest for their kids’ education, for a down payment on a home, and for a secure retirement – not a game for hedge fund managers, where workers always lose.

As Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Mr. Gensler led the implementation of important safeguards under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, to bring transparency and stability to more markets.

He was also tough on enforcement issues, cracking down on the big banks that had manipulated interest rates for years.

Mr. Gensler’s is an expert on finance and markets, who previously served as Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Markets.

He will carry out the SEC’s mission, to ensure U.S. capital markets deliver growth and investment opportunities that grow the real economy and give middle class families the opportunity to build wealth.

He understands that we need to ensure confidence and stability in our markets, as the foundation to grow American businesses and support the workers that make their companies successful.

Mr. Gensler will listen to families saving for the future, as well as the professionals who manage workers’ pensions and retirements. And, he will make sure that savers—large and small—can hold corporate executives accountable.

When it comes to enforcement, Mr. Gensler has shown he will take on bad actors – no matter how big and powerful they are – and hold them accountable.

This pandemic has reminded people just how rigged the Wall Street system can be.

If you only look at the stock market, it looks like the pandemic never happened.

The market reached new highs last fall, while families and businesses continued to suffer. Workers put their health and their lives on the line to keep businesses running – and once again, hedge funds and insiders reaped the vast majority of the profits.

It doesn’t have to be that way. We can have a market that works for everyone—I know Mr. Gensler shares that goal.

Under his leadership, the SEC can protect people’s hard-earned savings, keep our markets stable, and make them fairer. That will let us create an economy where everyone can participate.

Mr/Madame President I urge my colleagues for vote yes for Mr. Gensler’s nomination.

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