Submitted by United States Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana
MADISONVILLE, La. (Feb. 23, 2024) – Senator John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Banking and Judiciary Committees, joined Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and twenty other colleagues in filing an amicus brief in American Securities Association v. SEC, a case in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT).
The SEC’s CAT will collect all customer and order information for equity securities and listed options, including data that might be considered personally identifiable information.
Congress did not authorize the CAT, which leaves investors to pay higher costs for the program while it puts personal information, such as social security numbers and birth dates, at risk of being hacked.
“More than 158 million Americans invest their hard-earned savings in the stock market, and they trust that their personal information is secure. Despite concerns about recent cyberattacks at federal agencies, the Biden administration is moving forward with its Consolidated Audit Trail—without Congressional authorization. This unconstitutional plan jeopardizes investors’ data and requires them to pay higher fees. The appeals court should stop it before bad actors exploit the CAT to take advantage of Americans,” said Kennedy.
“The SEC never brought this proposal before Congress to request funds because the Biden administration knows the program is a gross overreach that would suck up the personal data of millions of law-abiding Americans. More than that, the SEC has shown it is incapable of safely storing sensitive data. This program needs to be killed before it begins,” said Cotton.
Background
- In November 2023, Kennedy penned an op-ed highlighting concerns regarding the SEC’s move to store investors’ personally identifiable information through the CAT.
- In July 2023, Kennedy introduced the Protecting Investors’ Personally Identifiable Information Act to protect information that could reveal the identity of American investors.
Senators John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) signed the brief along with twelve members of the House of Representatives.
The amicus brief is available here.
