Sky Blog
In the world of legislative decision-making, one truth holds: U.S. legislators are heavily motivated by re-election. To win votes, they must understand and serve the economic interests of their constituents. This dynamic raises an intriguing question: How do members of …
Chairman Joyce, Ranking Member Hoyer, and members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to testify today.[1]
I am grateful for the opportunity to discuss the SEC, including our important mission on behalf of our fellow citizens, investors, …
We write in opposition to the hasty and opaque efforts underway to abolish the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the nonprofit organization that oversees audits of public companies and SEC-registered brokers and dealers in the United States, currently overseen …
On February 12, President Trump issued an Executive Order and Fact Sheet ordering, among other things, that the U.S. Attorney General cease initiation of any new FCPA investigations or enforcement actions for 180 days. As CEOs and boards of …
On March 11, 2008, Congress held its first ever hearing on corporate monitors. The hearing began with questions to John Ashcroft, the former U.S. Attorney General who then headed a law and consulting firm, about why he had been given …
Effective and well-designed laws governing investment and financial markets are the single most important foundation for financial markets to allocate capital efficiently while providing optimal reassurance to investors and lenders. Strong empirical evidence shows the United States has a lower …
While it is widely recognized that companies regularly lobby Congress, we show that most large public companies also lobby executive agencies. Given that executive agencies are not beholden to companies for campaign contributions, it is not clear whether agencies would …
The Supreme Court recently upheld the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding structure in a 7–2 decision that will likely pave the way for renewed regulatory activity by the agency in the near future.
Enacted as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, …
In an important step forward, the House voted to pass a bill to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets and offering important protections for customers. It could be improved by expressly discarding Howey, Reves or similar inherently …
On April 24, 2024, President Biden signed into law the 21st Century Peace through Strength Act (the Act) as part of a broader foreign aid package providing funding to Taiwan, Ukraine, and Israel. The Act combines a series of unrelated …
I dissent from the Commission’s denial of a petition to amend Rule 202.5(e), our so-called gag rule.[1] This de facto rule follows from the Commission’s enforcement of its policy, adopted in 1972, that it will not “permit a defendant
As Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently observed, the United States has not defaulted on its national debt since its founding in 1789, and we should not start now.[1] She also pointed out that Congress has raised the statutory ceiling …
In 2011, Peter Schweizer published a book, Throw Them All Out, exposing some questionable means by which politicians manage to increase their personal wealth 50 percent faster than the average American does.
Schweizer suggested that trading on material nonpublic …
Congressional critics of the agencies reviewing bank mergers have in recent months claimed that those agencies “rubber stamp” mergers and that merger review standards relating to antitrust are too lax. We believe those critics are misinformed.
Bank …
Senior congressional antitrust leaders on both sides of the Capitol are taking steps to transition a long-running investigation into competition practices in the technology sector into legislative action. Activity kicked off on Friday, June 11, when the House Judiciary Committee’s …
On his way out, President Trump sought to “protect Americans from overcriminalization” by trying to limit the criminal enforcement of regulatory offenses. Hostility to administrative crimes is growing at the Supreme Court too, in part as an outgrowth of concern …
Last week, the House of Representatives passed the “Insider Trading Prohibition Act” (“ITPA”).[1] Proponents are hailing it as a triumph of bipartisan cooperation. Conversely, critics are calling it the “Insider Trading Protection Act.” This is because the bill codifies …
On February 4, Senator Amy Klobuchar introduced the Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act (CALERA), which provides for wide-ranging changes to the U.S. antitrust laws.[1] CALERA follows the release of a report last year by the staff of …
On September 25, 2019, the US House of Representatives (“House”) passed, by a vote of 321 to 103, the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act (“SAFE Banking Act”), bipartisan legislation designed to secure and regulate banking services to the expanding …