Washington, D.C. — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), along with 21 of his colleagues in Congress, yesterday filed an amicus brief in American Securities Association and Citadel Securities v. SEC in the Eleventh Circuit of Appeals, challenging the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposed funding scheme for its Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT). The CAT would collect vast amounts of private information of every American investor, including any American with a retirement account, without any suggestion of wrongdoing by the investor. Because Congress never authorized or provided funding for the CAT, the SEC’s proposed scheme would force the investors themselves to pay to be surveilled, increasing their costs, and invading their privacy all at once.

“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 Senator Cotton.

The amicus brief may be found here.

The following members of Congress also signed the brief:

Sen. John Boozman (R-Arkansas)

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Indiana)

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota)

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Montana)

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee)

Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana)

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas)

Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Nebraska)

Sen. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina)

Rep. Mark Alford (Missouri-04)

Rep. Don Bacon (Nebraska-02)

Rep. Mike Collins (Georgia-10)

Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (Wisconsin-05)

Rep. French Hill (Arkansas-02)

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (Georgia-11)

Rep. Alex X. Mooney (West Virginia-02)

Rep. Ralph Norman (South Carolina-05)

Rep. John Rose (Tennessee-06)

Rep. Keith Self (Texas-03)

Rep. Randy Weber (Texas-14)

Rep. Steve Womack (Arkansas-03)