The leaders of the House Agriculture Committee on Friday urged President Donald Trump to fill the four open seats on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, pointing to the agency's expanding crypto mandate and a flood of pending rulemakings.
Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson, R-Pa., and Ranking Member Angie Craig, D-Minn., wrote in a joint letter that the CFTC will be "best served by a full five-member commission," delivering "better regulations, more durable rules, and more sensitivity to the divergent views of key derivatives market stakeholders."
The letter cited CFTC Chairman Michael Selig's April 16 testimony before the committee, where he outlined an aggressive rulemaking agenda. Selig has been the agency's only commissioner since taking office in December, after a wave of departures left the panel hollowed out.
While the CFTC is intended to have a bipartisan commission of five members, there is no law requiring the commission to be full; the law only requires that no more than three members of any political party be appointed to the commission.
Thompson and Craig also tied the request to Trump's budget proposal, which seeks an increase in the CFTC's funding. The agency operates with roughly 543 full-time staff, compared with about 4,200 at the SEC.
