Congress

Trump SEC pick wants to ditch landmark climate disclosure rule

Published

2 years ago

December 9, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission has been a vocal critic of the financial regulator’s recent effort to require companies to disclose their risks from climate change.

Paul Atkins, a Republican whom President George W. Bush named to the SEC in 2002, is best known as an advocate for cryptocurrency since leaving the commission in 2008. He’s also assailed the SEC’s controversial climate-disclosure rule as a burden to corporate America.

Finalized in March under Biden SEC Chair Gary Gensler, the rule would require publicly traded companies to divulge details about the risks that climate change poses to their business. The SEC paused the rule in April amid lawsuits from Republican state attorneys general and a company led by Chris Wright, Trump’s pick for Energy secretary.

Atkins, who founded the financial sector consultancy group Patomak Global Partner, is a “proven leader for common sense regulations,” Trump said in announcing the selection Wednesday.

“He believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of Investors, & that provide capital to make our Economy the best in the World,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.”

Environmental groups and advocates for sustainable investing criticized Atkins’ selection and urged the Senate to reject him, saying he would gut efforts to promote investing based on environmental, social and governance considerations, known as ESG.

“Atkins’ mission to roll back accountability and transparency should raise alarm for the future of responsible investing,” said Kyle Herrig, a spokesperson for Unlocking America’s Future, which promotes ESG investing and has run ads supporting the SEC climate-disclosure rule.

Atkins would “surely put a stop to any progress on ESG [principles], which are critical for building a resilient American financial system, protecting the financial security of America’s retirees, and maintaining America’s leadership on the global stage,” Herrig said in a statement.

Before the SEC climate disclosure rule was finalized, Atkins and Republican SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce had argued that it could harm investors because of the complexity and uncertainty of accurately gauging climate risks. Trump appointed Peirce, who was seated in 2018.

Atkins rejected the contention that investors are demanding climate disclosures. He accused the SEC of conflating the demands of both politically motivated investors and climate advocacy groups with the larger market.

“It’s a roundabout way through regulation of disclosure to try to regulate or influence greenhouse gas emissions by themselves, which is delegated by Congress to another agency of the United States government, and that’s namely the EPA,” Atkins said at a virtual panel discussion in 2022 run by the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

Atkins wrote a Wall Street Journal opinion column in 2022 urging the SEC to “retract and rethink its planned disclosure rule.” He joined a comment letter with other former SEC commissioners opposing the rule.

During a Federalist Society webinar in July, Atkins called it a “huge rule that would completely upend corporate disclosure.” He said the rule, which the SEC had recently paused, would expand disclosure “and really make things revolve around climate disclosure and all sorts of subjective and very hypothetical effects.”

Testifying before Congress in 2019, Atkins told lawmakers that more mandatory disclosures would be burdensome for companies and would dissuade them from going public. Atkins was testifying against Democratic-led legislation that would have required public companies to provide more information about their environmental and social effects and vulnerabilities.

Atkins would replace Gensler, who championed the climate disclosure rule and has been leading a crackdown on the crypto industry. Gensler, nominated by President Joe Biden, announced in November that he would step down on Inauguration Day.

The SEC’s five commissioners are appointed for five-year terms, which can be extended, and are politically balanced so that no more than three commissioners are from the same party. Although Gensler’s term runs into 2026, he followed a long practice of SEC chairs resigning when a new president takes office.

Trump, who once expressed skepticism about power-hungry cryptocurrencies, received billions of dollars from the industry for his 2024 campaign and said he would launch his own cryptocurrency business.

Mining cryptocurrency requires high-powered computers that consume a vast amount of electricity. U.S. operations currently account for as much as 2.3 percent of total U.S. electricity usage, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That’s equivalent to the demand from Utah or West Virginia.

Congress

McConnell to remain in rehab, will skip Fancy Farm picnic in Kentucky

Published

20 minutes ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Monday that he will remain in rehab as he continues to recover from a June fall that left him briefly unconscious.

In a statement, McConnell shared that he is “working hard” to return to a full schedule but remains in “intense physical therapy.”

The Office of the Attending Physician (OAP) confirmed that medical staff visit the senator daily to discuss “all aspects of his rehabilitation care” but added he is “not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to office.”

“Since his discharge from hospital care, he has maintained a strenuous course of physical therapy and rehabilitation, including multiple sessions a day designed to rebuild strength and reduce the risk of future falls,” the OAP said. “His bout with childhood polio continues to be a significant factor in his mobility.”

McConnell, 84, was rushed to the hospital on June 14 following the fall and what he described as a “mild case of pneumonia.” In a letter to constituents earlier this month, he said that while he was briefly knocked unconscious, he did not suffer any broken bones, a stroke or a heart attack. It is unclear when McConnell was discharged.

But his continued rehab stay means McConnell will miss Kentucky’s premier political event: the annual Fancy Farm Picnic.

“There’s no place I’d rather be on the first Saturday in August than with the good people of western Kentucky, feasting on pork and mutton,” McConnell said Monday. “I hate that I’ll miss the fun this year, but I’m sending my best wishes to the St. Jerome community for a successful picnic.”

McConnell, who is retiring when his current term concludes in January, has faced a series of health challenges in recent years. In 2023, he froze twice while speaking to reporters. He has also experienced several other falls and, at one point, used a wheelchair as what his office called a precautionary measure.

Congress

Trump tells Thune to keep Senate in session to pass SAVE America Act

Published

3 hours ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump ramped up pressure Monday on Majority Leader John Thune, telling him to keep the Senate in session until a GOP election bill passes.

“John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to ‘leave town’ until it passes The Save America Act or, far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER, where Republicans can then quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Monday.

Democrats, he added, will nix the filibuster themselves when they regain power “and can’t believe how lucky they got with this Senate leadership. Remember, stupidity always brings LOSING & DEATH!”

Trump’s Truth Social post comes after he urged supporters last week to call Thune about the SAVE America Act, then said Friday that he wanted Senate Republicans to adopt a blueprint for a $95 billion party-line spending bill, which would include some election-related funding, before they leave town for the August recess as planned on Aug. 6.

Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said over the weekend that they believed the Senate should stay in town until the election bill is passed. Lee has previously called for the Senate to stay in session through prior recesses to pass the SAVE America Act but has not forced the issue on the floor.

Despite Trump’s pressure campaign, the elections bill doesn’t have the votes to pass the Senate and there isn’t enough support within the Senate Republican conference for nixing the filibuster, which requires 60 votes for most legislation to advance.

Congress

Capitol agenda: Thune tries to focus as Trump fumes

Published

5 hours ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

John Thune has a long to-do list, a shrinking runway for getting it done and a president in the peanut gallery.

The Senate is back Monday with only two more weeks — more realistically, eight legislative days — in town until the chamber leaves Washington through mid-September.

The majority leader wants to clear a government funding stopgap, a long-stalled Russia sanctions bill and dozens of nominees, but he’s also facing pressure from President Donald Trump and some of his right flank to make progress on the SAVE America Act, a GOP election bill that doesn’t have the votes to pass.

It’s the latter that will be the biggest headache for Thune after Trump told Senate Republicans to adopt the blueprint for a $95 billion spending bill, which would include election-related funding, before leaving for August break.

Most GOP senators, however, don’t expect that to happen — and the budget blueprint doesn’t have the 50 votes it needs right now among Senate Republicans to be adopted despite Trump’s public overture.

Then, over the weekend, Sen. Mike Lee signaled he opposed the Senate leaving for the recess without passing the election bill. Lee could force a vote if he wants to on whether or not to adjourn — though he’s previously tweeted about how the Senate shouldn’t leave and then done nothing about it. Sen. Rick Scott also posted Sunday that he stands with Lee in opposing a recess until SAVE America is passed.

Lee also fired off a warning for Thune, saying the fate of the election bill “could impact” the November Senate GOP leadership elections. Thune is running again for leader and most GOP senators believe he’s secure in his job. But a few, granted anonymity to speak candidly, have questioned if Trump, who is fuming behind the scenes, would target him after the midterms, especially if Republicans lose the majority.

Thune will have to balance those questions this week, while trying to move the agenda he views as actually accomplishable.

On that front, senators will take a vote Monday night on Jay Clayton’s director of national intelligence nomination (more on that below) and they could pass the Russia sanctions bill as soon as this week, if they can get a time agreement. This week is also key for Judiciary senators to decide whether to advance Trump’s attorney general pick Todd Blanche. And senators are working around funeral arrangements for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Likely waiting until next week: A vote on a bill to fund the government into December as bipartisan talks proceed positively, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. An initial vote on cryptocurrency legislation, known as the Clarity Act, is also likely to be punted to next week, but Democrats, so far, aren’t on board.

What else we’re watching:

— JEFFRIES MAKES HIS CLOSING MIDTERMS PITCH: Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke at an event in Pennsylvania’s swingy Lehigh Valley with Gov. Josh Shapiro and House candidate Bob Brooks to make his closing argument for why voters should hand his party the gavels 100 days from the midterms. His message? Affordability. Affordability. Affordability. The minority leader’s latest commitment to lowered costs gives a clearer preview of how Democrats would govern in the majority.

— FLOOD SEES FRAUD-BUSTING IN RECON 4.0: The head of a GOP group representing some of the House’s most vulnerable members this fall seems confident the party will tackle a fourth reconciliation bill with fraud-busting provisions. Republican’s Recon 3.0 budget framework is still facing an uncertain future in the Senate after being adopted by House lawmakers last week. But House Main Street Caucus Chair Mike Flood said in an interview he believes House Republicans do another party-line bill after the midterm elections. Read the full Q&A with Flood on PoliticoPro.

Riley Rogerson and Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.