WASHINGTON — The Senate Banking Committee unanimously approved two nominees to the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday, clearing them for a confirmation vote by the full Senate.
The nominees are SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar, whom President Obama tapped for a second term, and Daniel Gallagher, a partner at WilmerHale in Washington, D.C.
Both have municipal securities experience and would serve five-year terms if confirmed by the Senate.
The committee also approved five other Obama nominees to key financial regulatory posts.
“These are exactly the kind of well-qualified individuals we need in place as we work toward a robust economic recovery,” Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., who chairs the committee, said in a release.
Aguilar, a Democrat who joined the SEC on July 31, 2008, is the only commissioner other than Elisse Walter who has called for the repeal of the Tower Amendment. That provision of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 bars the SEC and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board from requiring muni issuers to file disclosure documents with them before issuing securities.
Gallagher, a Republican, practices securities law, focusing on regulatory issues and market-related enforcement matters. He joined WilmerHale in February 2010 after a four-year stint at the commission, where he served as deputy director in the division of trading and markets and as counsel to former SEC chairman Christopher Cox and former Commissioner Paul Atkins. He also served as co-acting director of the trading and markets division from April 2009 to January 2010.
During his confirmation hearing in June, Gallagher ranked investor protection as his No. 1 priority.
Also on Capitol Hill Thursday, Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee released a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asking for a status report on efforts “to lessen the negative impact Dodd-Frank’s 400 new regulations will have on private-sector job creators.”
