Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
House Republicans' new oversight campaign against the SEC's climate disclosure rule will add to the pressure the agency faces in the courts.
Why it matters: We're seeing the opening shots in what promises to be a lengthy fight on the Hill over the rule as court challenges play out.
Driving the news: At a Financial Services oversight subcommittee field hearing Monday, Republicans celebrated Friday's federal court ruling that temporarily blocked the rule.
- Republicans have also lined up a separate subcommittee hearing Wednesday on a slate of bills that would require the SEC to do cost-benefit analyses in its rulemakings and limit its ability to write sweeping regulatory proposals.
- While the legislation isn't directly targeted at the climate rule, it will certainly become part of the broader Hill conversation about emissions disclosure.
- That adds to a flurry of GOP-led oversight requests on climate disclosures and a larger slate of anti-ESG bills that the committee has tried to push this Congress.
What they're saying: Rep. Bill Huizenga previewed the oversight plans: "Given this lack of cooperation and the content of the material turned over to the committee, I can only conclude that Chair [Gary] Gensler does not really want us to see the flimsy basis on which he has crafted this rule."
- The SEC "flooded committee staff with tens of thousands of pages of unresponsive documents" in response to oversight requests, he said during the field hearing.
- In response, the SEC offered a March 6 statement from Gensler providing a justification for his agency's approach to the climate rule.
Between the lines: Congress isn't going to successfully repeal the rule via the Congressional Review Act in the near term, but these kinds of pressure campaigns can influence how agencies act.
- "You can be certain that any efforts to restrict the SEC's authority will get a lot of attention, I think both from the SEC as well as from the administration," said John Kostyack, an environmental attorney who consulted for the Sierra Club on the disclosure rule.
Zoom in: This is all simmering alongside the legal battles, which lawmakers will do their best to influence.
- Expect amicus briefs from the Hill in the lawsuits filed by GOP states and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
- This fight also shows how Republican-led states will use the major questions doctrine, established in West Virginia v. EPA, to take a whack at environmental rulemakings.
The other side: We're seeing some crossed battle lines here, with the Sierra Club launching its own lawsuit that argues the final rule is too weak.
- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse told reporters he could see Democrats intervening via amicus briefs.
