The Next Wave of Congressional Chairmen

Armed Services
Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., would be the next chairman

Transportation and Infrastructure
John Mica, R-Fla., would become chairman. On transportation issues, Mica is a supporter of high-speed rail, the think-tank says. “If a multi-year highway bill is addressed in the next Congress, he will obviously play a large role in writing it.”

On the Senate side:

Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
As expected, Senator Tim Johnson, D-South Dakota, will take over for the retiring chairman, Christopher Dodd (D-CT). Johnson, who’s considerably more conservative than Dodd, “can be expected to take a different tact than Dodd,” the Washington think tank says.

Johnson crafted the language requiring the SEC to conduct a study of advisor and broker obligations, and finally conceded to allow the Dodd-Frank Act to include language allowing the SEC to put brokers under a fiduciary mandate—after the study is performed. Johnson has said that his “major priority for the next Congress” will be the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act.

On another note, I heard Tim Ryan, CEO of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), make some telling comments concerning how the SEC’s fiduciary standard language will look after a speech he gave recently at the Washington Economics Club. He said that the uniform fiduciary standard that the SEC is busy crafting—with help from SIFMA, no doubt–will likely be a “modified ’40 Act standard” that incorporates additional disclosures. But, he said, it will be “disclosure that’s understood.”