Unless you’ve been unplugged and hiding under a rock recently, you’ve heard that the federal government shutdown has ended—at least for the next three weeks. In a statement today, SEC Chair Jay Clayton said that the SEC has “resumed normal staffing levels and is returning to normal operations.” What that will mean in practice, we don’t really know yet, given the likelihood of significant backlogs that accumulated over the past month. Clayton advised that the leaders of Divisions, such as Corp Fin, are consulting with the staff and “are continuing to assess how to most effectively transition to normal operations.” Corp Fin is expected to publish a statement (as are other offices) “in the coming days regarding their transition plans,” which will be available on the SEC website.
Clayton closed his statement with a personal note emphasizing that the “past 30 days have underscored” the importance of the people who work at the SEC and how privileged he felt to welcome them back: “They bring experience, expertise and commitment to work every day for the benefit of our economy, our markets and, most importantly, our investors.”
