WASHINGTON — A leading Senate Democrat is urging Congress’s independent watchdog agency to investigate deep staffing cuts at the nation’s derivatives regulator, warning those reductions could undermine the agency’s ability to enforce the law.
In a letter sent to the Government Accountability Office on Tuesday, Elizabeth Warren — the second-ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee — said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has seen its workforce shrink by roughly 25% since the beginning of last year. She also pointed to a notable decline in enforcement actions during that same period, and referenced recent media reports suggesting that industries regulated by the CFTC may have benefited from the firings.
The GAO serves as Congress’s nonpartisan auditing and investigative body.
“Given reasonable concerns that staffing cuts may have a material impact on the CFTC’s ability to carry out its mandate as required by current law, I request that the GAO thoroughly reviews the staffing cuts,” Warren wrote in her letter.
The CFTC has pushed back on those concerns in recent months, stating that it anticipates growing its workforce and that it currently has enough resources to meet its responsibilities — crediting the use of artificial intelligence as one factor helping to fill the gap.
Neither the GAO nor the CFTC responded to requests for comment by Tuesday.
The scrutiny comes as the CFTC’s regulatory reach is growing. The agency is asserting sole authority over the rapidly expanding prediction markets industry, and could also be handed primary oversight of cryptocurrencies if pending legislation before Congress becomes law.
