(Bloomberg) -- Democrat Caroline Crenshaw’s nomination to serve another term as a commissioner at the Securities and Exchange Commission just hit more obstacles after a planned committee vote was postponed.
With few days remaining on the congressional calendar this year to reschedule, the move heightens the possibility of a three-person, all Republican SEC in the early months of the next Trump administration. Crenshaw’s renomination has been in limbo since her term at the agency officially ended in June.
Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown initially postponed the vote just minutes before it was scheduled Wednesday morning and after the panel’s GOP members had appeared. Republican senators then blocked Brown’s request to waive procedural rules and hold a vote later that day, a Senate aide said.
Crenshaw’s office did not respond to a request for comment about the delayed vote.
If the nomination continues to stall, President-elect Donald Trump could select Republican Paul Atkins to fill her spot on the five-person board since the term is expired. Crenshaw can only remain at the SEC until January 2026 if no other person is confirmed to her role, according to the statute.
Trump announced Atkins as his pick to head the agency earlier this month. Chair Gary Gensler and Commissioner Jaime Lizárraga, both Democrats, plan to depart the SEC in January. The SEC can have up to five commissioners with no more than three of the same political party.
Tyler Gellasch, president of the trade group Healthy Markets Association, said failure to confirm Crenshaw could result in the agency losing the important dynamics of multiple political viewpoints.
“A shift to single-party control of the SEC would mean that the agency’s rules and enforcement efforts would likely lurch from one ideological extreme to another, materially jeopardizing the US’s role as the world’s predominant market,” Gellasch said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.
Some organizations are still applying pressure to see Crenshaw over the finish line, with more than 40 labor and civil society groups signing onto a letter Thursday calling for her confirmation. The letter touted the Democrat as helping retirement savers and investors while underscoring the importance commissioners can have in legal challenges.
“Commissioner Crenshaw has served average Americans well on vital issues,” they wrote.
Crenshaw’s Background
Crenshaw has served as a commissioner since 2020. She has often played the role of the left flank to Gensler, frequently pushing for firmer stances on issues like corporate disclosures on climate risks.
Her position on climate-related disclosures angered many companies, while her votes supporting the SEC’s crypto enforcement actions upset an industry that has gained new prominence in Washington. Crenshaw issued a lengthy dissent in January when the agency approved rule changes to allow exchanges to list spot-market Bitcoin ETFs for the first time.
Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the top Republican on the committee, said last week that he opposed the effort to see Crenshaw and other Biden nominees over the finish line during the lame-duck session.
“This 11th-hour push by Democrats to ram through President Biden’s nominees is a blatant attempt to hinder President Trump’s agenda,” Scott said in a Dec. 6 emailed statement.
(Updates with joint groups’ Thursday letter in ninth and tenth paragraphs.)
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