Robert Hurt statement on Financial Services hearing on SEC operations

Congressman Robert Hurt (R-Virginia) released the following statement regarding the Financial Services Committee hearing today,which featured testimony by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Mary Jo White, and examined the SEC’s agenda, operations, and Fiscal Year 2017 budget request.

“Today’s hearing focused on the SEC and ensuring that it is adhering to its three-part mission: to protect investors; maintain fair, orderly and efficient markets; and facilitate capital formation.  I firmly believe that one of the foremost responsibilities of this Committee is to provide the appropriate, effective oversight and scrutiny of the federal agencies’ budgets under our jurisdiction.  At a time when our national debt is $18 trillion and rising by the second, federal agencies must learn to work smarter and more efficiently, just as hardworking American families have learned to do.

“We must ensure that the SEC facilitates fairness and transparency in the marketplace to better promote capital formation and to better protect investors.  I am particularly interested in the SEC’s work as it relates to considering reforms to our U.S. equity market structure that will better reflect the realities of today’s marketplace.  I urge Chair White and the Commission to work to ensure that our markets remain the deepest and fairest in the world so that investors are optimally served and so that companies of all sizes have adequate access to the capital markets, which promotes job creation and economic growth.  I will continue to work with my colleagues on the Committee to provide appropriate oversight of the SEC and will work to see that these objectives are met.”