Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) led a hearing earlier this week to discuss the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and how regulatory issues are impacting end-users and the liquidity of the market overall.
“July marks the five-year anniversary of passage of the Dodd-Frank Act,” Roberts said during his opening statement. “Not too long after (that passage), this committee began reviewing its impacts on farmers, ranchers and end-users. We have had several hearings with numerous on-the-ground witnesses, and have discovered that Dodd-Frank and its implementation placed many burdens on our end-users, farmers and ranchers. And yet, the Congress has not sufficiently acted to address these hardships.”
Roberts explained that the hearing was the beginning of the process in determining the greatest issues of concern and laying the groundwork for new legislation that will reduce the regulatory burdens of the Dodd-Frank policies.
“This hearing will help build the record for what Congress should address in legislation and what we are overdue in accomplishing, which is reauthorizing the CFTC,” he said.
“CFTC reauthorization is a priority. I intend to work with Sen. [Debbie} Stabenow (D-MI) and the members of the committee to come up with a bill that addresses end-user related concerns and fulfills our responsibility of reauthorizing the commission.”