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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
President Bush nominated Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., to head the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday.
"He will be an outstanding leader of the SEC," Bush said.
"As a champion of the free enterprise system in Congress, Chris Cox knows that a free economy is built on trust," Bush told reporters at the White House. He called on the Senate "to confirm his nomination at the earliest possible date."
"I look forward to the opportunity to serve our nation in a new role, as Chairman of the SEC," Cox said.
SEC chairman William Donaldson will resign on June 30, the SEC said Wednesday. His departure comes after criticism from two Republican members of the agency and from some business groups and administration officials who contended that his enforcement and policy decisions had been too heavy-handed.
Donaldson particularly antagonized big business by implementing provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate reform law although the law itself was enacted prior to Donaldson's nomination in December 2002.
"Bill Donaldson has set high standards for American business and the SEC, and Chris Cox is the right man to carry on this important work," Bush said.
"I've given Chris a clear mission: to continue to strengthen public trust in our markets so the American economy can continue to grow and create jobs," Bush said.
"I look forward to carrying out that mandate, through the important role of the Securities and Exchange Commission," Cox responded.
"The free and efficient movement of capital is helping to create the greatest prosperity in human history," he said. "The natural enemies of this economic marvel are fraud and unfair dealing."
He vowed to enforce the rule of law that "has given America the most dynamic and vibrant capital markets in the world."
Cox, who is 52, has been considered an ally of business groups and helped rewrite securities laws to make investor lawsuits more difficult to file. He is also well-known for waging an effort to repeal the estate tax, the capital gains tax on savings and investment, and taxes on dividends.
The SEC exists primarily to protect investors and battle corporate corruption and some on Wall Street have expressed concern that Cox could be too pro-business for the post.
But Bush said Cox "will vigorously enforce the rules and laws that guarantee honesty and transparency in our markets and corporate boardrooms."
"He makes a strong choice for the role," said a spokeswoman for the Business Roundtable, an organization that has complained in the past that the SEC overreacted to corporate fraud by imposing rules that were more burdensome than helpful.
But a spokeswoman for the Council of Institutional Investors, which has supported stronger regulation, said they are "optimistic that he'll leave politics at the door... but it's impossible to predict."
Cox, elected to Congress nine times from Orange County, Calif., would be the SEC's 28th chairman. He is currently chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee after serving as chairman of the House Policy Committee from 1994 until this year.
Prior to his election to Congress in 1988, the Harvard Law and Business Schools graduate was an adviser to President Reagan.
He, his wife Rebecca, and their three children, Charles, Katie, and Kevin, live in Newport Beach, Calif.
"Of all of the things I do, I put being a husband and father at the top of the list," Cox has said.
Click here for more on William Donaldson's tenure.
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