White House: No names from Senate Democrats for SEC, CFTC

White House officials wrote in a Thursday letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that they had solicited names from Senate Democrats but received none for commissioner vacancies at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The correspondence was a response to a June 10 letter from 12 Senate Democrats who had raised concerns about understaffing at several federal agencies, including the SEC and CFTC. The White House said it had asked Senate Democrats to propose candidates for the two agencies but was not provided any names.

At the SEC, two Democratic seats are vacant while three Republican commissioners currently serve on the five-member panel. One Republican commissioner, Hester Peirce, is expected to leave by November. At the CFTC, Republican Michael Selig serves as chair and is the sole confirmed commissioner; he has been in the post for about seven months and has defended the agency’s view that it holds exclusive jurisdiction over some prediction market platforms.

In their June letter, the group of Democrats wrote that the White House had largely declined to engage with Senate Democratic leadership in the usual process of identifying Democratic nominees for independent agencies and warned that many critical positions were being left open.

The staffing gaps coincide with ongoing debate over digital-asset legislation. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act cleared the House in July 2025 but remains stalled in the Senate. Two Senate committees have advanced separate versions of the bill, which still needs some Democratic votes to reach the 60-vote threshold in the full chamber. Republican leaders have been preparing to bring the measure to a vote in July.

CFTC Chair Michael Selig has warned in interviews that delays in passing legislation and partisan disputes could result in regulators having to write rules for digital-asset markets in the absence of a bipartisan law.

The White House has not announced any nominations sent to the Senate since June 24. With the Senate on a state work period, timing on both the CLARITY Act and any nominations may depend on when senators return and whether the White House and Senate Democrats can agree on candidates. Until nominations are submitted and confirmed, both agencies will continue to operate with limited Democratic representation on their leadership panels.