Providing for Availability of Amounts for Customer Education Initiatives and Non-Awards Expenses of Commodity Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Program

Floor Speech

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Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 409) to provide for the availability of amounts for customer education initiatives and non-awards expenses of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Program, and for other purposes.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: S. 409

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION WHISTLEBLOWER PROGRAM.

(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, there is established in the Treasury a separate account (referred to in this section as the ``account''), the amounts in which shall be available for the sole purposes of--

(1) carrying out the activities described in section 23(g)(2)(B) of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 26(g)(2)(B)) (referred to in this section as ``customer education initiatives''); and

(2) funding the administrative, programmatic, and personnel expenses of the Whistleblower Office and the Office of Customer Education and Outreach of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (referred to in this section as the ``Commission'') in carrying out section 23 of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 26) (referred to in this section as ``non-awards expenses'').

(b) Transfers From Fund Into Account.--

(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Commission shall transfer up to $10,000,000 from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Customer Protection Fund established under section 23(g)(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 26(g)(1)) (referred to in this section as the ``Fund'') into the account.

(2) Availability.--Amounts transferred under paragraph (1) shall be available for obligation without further appropriation and remain available until October 1, 2022.

(3) Remaining amounts.--Amounts remaining in the account that are unobligated on October 1, 2022, shall be returned to the Fund.

(c) Requirement for Obligations.--The Commission may make obligations from the account only when the unobligated balance of the Fund is insufficient to pay non-awards expenses and expenses for customer education initiatives due to awards that the Commission has ordered under section 23(b) of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 26(b)).

(d) Reports to Congress.--The Commission shall include in each report required under section 23(g)(5) of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 26(g)(5)) the same information with respect to the account as the Commission includes in the report with respect to the Fund, to the extent the information is relevant to the account.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 409.

S. 409 provides a bipartisan, short-term legislative solution to address a funding shortage in CFTC's Customer Protection Fund. The Consumer Protection Fund is used to pay whistleblower awards that fund the salaries and expenses of the Whistleblower Office and the Office of Customer Education and Outreach.

Without this critical funding, CFTC would have to suspend some operations and furlough employees in the Whistleblower Office and the Office of Customer Education and Outreach.

This short-term solution is by no means a replacement for the much- needed comprehensive CFTC reauthorization. It will still, though, be a positive step to ensure that the CFTC can accomplish the important mission to promote the integrity, resilience, and vibrancy of the U.S. derivatives markets.

The Committee on Agriculture passed a committee print equivalent of this measure unanimously by voice vote last Wednesday.

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Mr. KHANNA. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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