House Ag Leaders Urge Trump to Fill Four CFTC Seats

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson and Ranking Member Angie Craig wrote Friday that President Donald Trump should fill the four open seats on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, citing an expanding crypto mandate and a backlog of pending rulemakings.

In a joint letter, the lawmakers wrote the CFTC will be “best served by a full five-member commission,” and that a complete panel would produce “better regulations, more durable rules, and more sensitivity to the divergent views of key derivatives market stakeholders.” The letter cited CFTC Chairman Michael Selig's April 16 testimony, in which he outlined an aggressive rulemaking agenda.

The request followed a 15-9 Senate Banking Committee vote to advance the CLARITY Act, a bill that would give the CFTC authority over spot digital commodity trading. The House approved a companion bill last July with 294 votes.

Selig has been the agency's only commissioner since taking office in December after several departures reduced the panel. Federal law caps members of the same political party at three but does not require all five seats to be filled.

Thompson and Craig linked their appeal to President Trump's budget proposal, which seeks increased funding for the CFTC. The agency currently employs about 543 full-time staff compared with roughly 4,200 at the Securities and Exchange Commission, a gap the letter argued supports a fully seated commission to handle a larger workload.

The letter warned that rules issued by a sole commissioner could be more vulnerable to legal challenges. The CFTC is defending state lawsuits over prediction markets and is preparing formal guidance on non-custodial software developers, areas the letter identified as needing broader consensus.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar has proposed an amendment in the Senate Agriculture Committee that would prevent new CFTC rules from taking effect until at least four commissioners are appointed. The White House has not announced any nominations since Selig's appointment in December.

The committee leaders asked the White House to move quickly on nominations so the commission can address the expanding crypto rulemaking agenda and the wider derivatives oversight work pending in Congress.