National Farmers Union

WASHINGTON (Sept. 29, 2008) – National Farmers Union today led a coalition of 14 organizations urging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to ensure Congress address the impact of speculation in the commodity and energy futures markets as soon as possible following the November elections.

NFU President Tom Buis said market speculation has been a growing concern, for farmers and ranchers in particular, for quite some time. Buis first called on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Congress to address the issue last spring.

“It is becoming painfully obvious, in a number of areas, we need to modernize regulations to ensure the mistakes of the past are not repeated or there could be disastrous consequences for all Americans,” Buis said. “It is essential the markets operate in a fair and open manner.”

The groups cited the Commodity Markets Transparency and Accountability Act as a good starting point for action which overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives September 18. Last week, Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., introduced Senate legislation that builds upon the House-passed measure. The Prevent Excessive Speculation Act would authorize speculation limits in all energy and agricultural futures markets; close the “swaps loophole” by regulating the over-the-counter market; close the “London loophole”; and require the CFTC to revise the standards that allow traders who use futures markets to hedge their holdings to exceed the speculation limits that apply to everyone else.

“I am hopeful Congress will look to the broad, bipartisan support for greater oversight in the commodity and energy futures markets and support provisions to address speculation,” Buis said.

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 2:48 pm and is filed under Economic Policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.