The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Jay Clayton, the Wall Street attorney chosen by President Donald Trump, to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The vote was 61-37 to give Clayton the job of running the independent agency that oversees Wall Street and the financial markets. Nine Democrats and one independent, Maine's Angus King, joined 51 Republicans in backing the nominee.
Clayton, a partner in the prominent law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, has done significant legal work for Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs and an array of other financial giants and corporations.
In line with Trump's pledge to ease many rules that flowed from the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial regulatory law, a Clayton-led SEC would be expected to take a comparatively loose approach to regulation. At his confirmation hearing in March, Clayton sought to reassure senators that he would act only in the public interest.