🏦 The Vault Quarterly: The SEC’s Atkins diet

THE VAULT LOOKAHEAD

Trump’s deregulatory agenda takes first steps

Atkins talks crypto and those pesky quarterlies

Lawmakers to watch in Obamacare fight

The Vault Power Matrix

ICYMI: The latest on crypto, tax talks and the Fed

THE TOP

Trump’s deregulatory agenda takes first steps

Welcome to our Punchbowl News The Vault Quarterly Edition!

Just eight months into the second Trump administration, Washington has already seen the makings of transformative policy shifts from both Congress and top financial regulators.

Republicans passed the One Big Beautiful Bill, delivering their top agenda item in time for the July 4 fireworks. The law made the Trump tax cuts permanent and also slashed hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending. Then Congress turned around and delivered a major new crypto law.

But there’s still a lot of work left to be done in the financial services, tax and trade arena.

Just take it from Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins. Among financial regulators, Atkins will be a key architect at a moment that could redefine American capital markets for a generation.

That’s why we interviewed Atkins this week, where we talked about upcoming crypto policy, making public companies “Great Again” and even whether he’s interested in leading the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, the struggle over extending the Obamacare enhanced premium tax credits is entering a fraught new phase as a government shutdown looms. We’ve put together a guide of all the most important lawmakers for you to track as this fight develops, from the Senate dealmakers to the vulnerable House members who need to worry about 2026.

And what quarterly edition would be complete without a Power Matrix? This was a major quarter for finserv and tax policy, and we take you through all the highs and lows.

– Brendan Pedersen and Laura Weiss

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THE INTERVIEW

Atkins talks crypto and those pesky quarterlies

Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins has an expansive agenda that will hinge in huge part on Congress. We sat down this week to discuss what that will look like and a whole lot more.

This isn’t Atkins’ first time serving at the SEC. He was first appointed as a commissioner during the George W. Bush administration.

But the world of financial regulation and the border economy has significantly changed since Atkins left the public sector in 2008. And the SEC is poised to transform in some dramatic ways during the 119th Congress, if lawmakers successfully enact changes to federal financial market structure.

Atkins says he’s ready to make those changes a reality – even the ones that pull back some of the SEC’s oversight of crypto and hands new authorities to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

“We’re not the Securities and Everything Commission,” Atkins said. “We have to kind of figure that we are bound by the law and by the statute. That gives us jurisdiction, but not everything is a security.”

Speaking of CFTC: Washington financial policy circles are aflutter with speculation about who will lead the commodities regulator since original Trump administration nominee Brian Quintenz has stalled out.

Atkins wants to make clear that, despite some recent reports that his name has been considered as CFTC chair, he is not interested. (In fairness, it wouldn’t be the first time the Trump administration asked its officials to wear multiple, big hats.)

“Thanks but no thanks,” Atkins told us. “The real issue is harmonization of the CFTC and SEC as a way forward, and not a merger.”

Crypto corner. Atkins said SEC staff was working closely with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on the second tranche of major legislative changes to financial markets requested by the crypto sector.

To review: Market structure changes will empower the CFTC to regulate “digital commodities” and their spot markets. The SEC would be given oversight of “investment contract assets,” which would be separate from an investment contract under existing law.

This push is significant and a little controversial. Atkins argued the changes were necessary, thanks in part to gripes over the Howey test. That’s a judicial principle dating back to the 1940s that guides when and whether securities law should apply to investments.

Atkins — along with much of the crypto world — doesn’t care much for Howey. “The Howey test is very vague. Its ‘you know it when you see it’ is kind of the problem. Hopefully, if Congress can provide some guidance there, that would be very helpful,” the SEC chair said.

We asked Atkins how he was feeling about the timing of market structure reforms as Capitol Hill becomes increasingly concerned this push will shift to 2026. The SEC pointed to the White House:

Public makeover. Atkins’ SEC is making a host of changes to the requirements for being a public company in the United States. That includes fewer limits on when companies can force their shareholders into mandatory arbitration.

“My real goal, frankly, is to make it cool to be a public company again. To make IPOs great again is what I like to say, because right now, it’s not,” Atkins said.

The push grabbing headlines most recently is the demise of quarterly reporting requirements. Lawmakers aren’t fully sold on the idea, which has percolated for years. Atkins has said the SEC will propose a rulemaking here.

Atkins pushed back on fears of a transparency crackdown. “I don’t think anyone’s contemplating saying, thou shalt not do 10-K,” the SEC chair said, referring to annual reports.

More from Atkins:

One last thing. We asked the SEC chair whether federal agencies needed an assist from Congress when it comes to foreign company investments and disclosure. China’s accounting practices have been a particular focus for Washington in recent years.

For now, Atkins is taking a rain check.

“We’ll see. We’re going through a kind of fishing exercise out there to get comments,” Atkins said. “We’ll take an evaluation and see if we do need additional authority from Congress. But we’re actively looking at this.”

– Brendan Pedersen

TAX SHOWDOWN

Lawmakers to watch in Obamacare fight

A crucial policy battle is heating up over the boosted Obamacare subsidies that expire at year’s end.

Democrats are making the enhanced premium tax credits the central demand of their government shutdown stand. Republican leaders have refused to address the subsidies in a short-term CR but cracked the door open to some kind of deal before Dec. 31.

But the GOP remains all over the map on the subsidies. Plenty of congressional Republicans despise the enhanced credits, bashing them as Covid-era benefits that need more means testing. A group of vulnerable and more centrist GOP lawmakers — who are staring down the harsh political reality of spiking health care costs — want an extension. Republicans need direction from the White House, and they don’t have it yet.

Democrats will at some point have to decide what a good enough compromise on the subsidies looks like. For now, they say the credits should be made permanent. But Democrats know Republicans won’t go for that.

The fight is only going to loom larger as the government funding deadline creeps closer. We’ll be tracking every twist and turn and, most crucially, what congressional leaders and President Donald Trump decide.

But there are also key voices among the rank-and-file in Congress poised to influence how this plays out. Here’s who we’re watching.

Senate GOP supporters. The Republican senators interested in an extension of the Obamacare subsidies run the gamut — including Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Tommy Tuberville (Ala.).

We’ve got our eye on Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who made a splash by voting against her party’s CR proposal last week. Murkowski cited, in part, the need to extend the Obamacare subsidies. And Murkowski introduced a bill to do just that.

If dealmakers start to cook something up in the Senate, it’s a good bet that Murkowski will be helping lead the way.

Democrats who deal. While Democratic leaders issue their demands, several rank-and-file lawmakers are quietly working to sketch out what consensus with GOP colleagues could look like.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) has been in talks with some GOP colleagues on the issue, according to a person familiar with the conversations. Shaheen has been taking an active role in messaging the issue for Democrats too.

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) is trying to help land a deal on the House side. The bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, which Suozzi coleads, has had discussions on the issue.

Vulnerable House Republicans. GOP House members staring down tough reelection fights — along with some moderate colleagues — are eager for a short-term extension of the boosted tax credits. That could certainly be helpful to them politically with the midterms looming next fall.

If the credits lapse, more than 4 million people could wind up without health insurance coverage by 2034, per CBO.

Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) is leading the way for these Republicans and having conversations with fellow backers, House GOP leaders and the Trump administration. The political case for House members like Kiggans is probably the most convincing argument for the White House to get behind an extension.

— Laura Weiss

WHO’S UP, WHO’S DOWN

The Vault Power Matrix

— Laura Weiss and Brendan Pedersen

DON’T MISS THIS

ICYMI: The latest on crypto, tax talks and the Fed

It’s been a busy few months in Vault world. It’s not often we get to tell you that multiple consequential tax and financial services laws were passed this quarter.

We’ve been all over those twists and turns and what comes next. Here’s the best of our recent reporting on the banking and tax issues dominating Washington. Have a look.

Crypto. Stablecoin reform was all the rage through July, when both chambers of Congress successfully passed the GENIUS Act. The road to get there was brutal, however, and we covered every bump and rumble. And there’s still more drama to go. More recently, we’ve been drilling down deeper into the struggle around market structure reform. The clock is ticking there, too.

Obamacare fight. The looming expiration of enhanced premium tax credits for Obamacare is a huge flashpoint on Capitol Hill and a story we’ve been tracking closely for months. Here’s the scoop on a new effort from vulnerable House Republicans on the issue. Read more on what went down when a House Ways and Means Committee GOP lunch conversation about the subsidies turned heated. And we continue to closely cover the role the expiring credits are playing in the shutdown fight.

Fed tumult. Central bank politics has given the Hill a run for its money in the past nine months. But the summer was a turning point for the Federal Reserve. Senate Republicans blessed an unprecedented arrangement that will allow Council of Economic Advisers Chair Stephen Miran to serve as a Fed governor without giving up his White House job. All while the economic picture darkens! And we’re waiting to see if the Supreme Court will allow President Donald Trump to fire Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook and how Hill Republicans will react if it does.

More bank fights. Crypto won’t be the only finserv issue we get to in 2025. Big issues like overhauling deposit insurance policy are beginning to take up more oxygen in Washington, which could carry significant economic implications for a wide variety of banks. Big banks are feeling particularly defensive over this push.

The tax sell. The messaging war over Republicans’ massive tax-and-spending-cut law is a crucial storyline going into the midterms. We kicked off the coverage for you in Las Vegas with a bunch of stories digging into the Republicans’ and Democrats’ political playbooks. Plus, we caught up with Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) on his thinking going into year-end talks.

— Laura Weiss and Brendan Pedersen