President Trump announced plans to nominate Hester Peirce, a former SEC staff attorney and counsel to Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee, to fill one of the Commissioner vacancies at the SEC. Peirce previously was nominated as SEC commissioner during the Obama administration but the full Senate did not act on her nomination. Peirce currently serves as the Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Financial Markets Working Group at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. The Wall Street Journal reported that Peirce as a Commissioner would make it easier for SEC Chairman Jay Clayton to carry out an agenda focused on reducing regulatory burdens for public companies.