House lawmakers and Bill Gates each sent letters to the Securities and Exchange Commission calling for the agency to finalize a key rule and raising the stakes in the fight over extractive issuer disclosure under the Dodd-Frank Act.

The letter from 14 members of the House of Representatives, led by Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.), notes their concern with the SEC in being so far behind in meeting the April 2011 statutory deadline for releasing final rules governing a program for oil, gas and mining companies to have to disclose...