Providing for Consideration of H.R. 6604, Commodity Markets Transparency and Accountability Act of 2008

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 6604, COMMODITY MARKETS TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - September 18, 2008)

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Mr. WELCH of Vermont. I thank the gentlelady from Ohio.

Madam Speaker, this bill, I think, brings in sharp relief a major question that this Congress is now having to contend with.

Our economy has been hijacked by speculation. Institutions that have served average American families, average American farmers, average American businesses very well have become casino chips on Wall Street. A couple of examples: One, mortgages. Folks were able to get a mortgage when they had enough savings and could get one that they could afford and they would buy a home. Mortgages were turned into subprimes that became investment vehicles by Wall Street, and now we're seeing the collapse.

A second institution, and this is why the Agriculture Committee is so involved, is the futures market. The purpose of the futures market was to give some price stability to our farmers, to our fuel dealers, to our airlines, folks who absolutely had a need for some price stability, some price discovery with the commodity they were producing.

And how did we get to this situation where it's been taken over by Wall Street? We can thank Enron for that. And it is important to understand historically how we got here.

Enron came into this Congress in 2001 and asked, literally, for a loophole, and they got it; and that was to allow speculative trading in the futures market. What that has resulted in is a vast increase in speculative activity in the energy market and the futures market for commodities by financial players as opposed to by farmers, by fuel dealers, by airlines.

We saw what happened with the subprime mess, and now we're seeing what has happened in the commodity futures trading market and why it's so essential that we get control on this and restore the futures market and restore it to what its original intention was, that is, something that's going to help the American consumer, the American farmer, the American small business.

This committee bill is bipartisan. The Agriculture Committee probably has the two most bipartisan leaders in the House with Chairman Peterson and Representative Goodlatte. And what they've done is made a decision in this committee to bring a bill that restores the commodity futures trading market to its original purpose, and that is having as its focus helping our farmers, our consumers, and small businesses and saying ``no'' to Wall Street; this is not one of your toys for speculation and enrichment.

So this is absolutely essential not just for the farmers and the small businesses, the fuel dealers, the airlines, but for capitalism itself. If we don't have mechanisms that reward work as opposed to just speculation, we're not going to have an economy that works.

So this bipartisan legislation recognizes the fundamental requirement that we have institutions that work to reward and help our farmers and our small businesses.

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Today, the House will take up H.R. 6604, the Commodity Market Transparency and Accountability Act. This bill will take crucial steps to curb excessive speculation in the energy futures markets.

Each weekend I hear the same thing from Vermonters: increasing expenses for fuel, child care, health care, and education are making it harder and harder for working families to make ends meet. Energy costs are an enormous driver of this crisis. The average U.S. heating oil bill is expected to be a record $3,500 for the upcoming winter, up 76 percent from two winters ago. This is not sustainable. Based on the current state of the market, speculation is a large contributing factor to the astronomical spikes we have had in just the past 12 to 18 months.

In 2000, Enron and several large energy companies successfully lobbied the (Republican-led Congress to exempt energy markets from government regulation. This lack of oversight has resulted in multi-billion dollar price manipulation and excessive speculation by traders. This special interest loophole is allowing energy traders to rip off Americans who are already struggling every winter to heat their homes. The previous Congress sold us out to Enron, creating a Wild West in the energy markets at the public's expense. It's time to end this rip off.

Last November I introduced H.R. 4066, the ``Close the Enron Loophole'' bill. My bill and the bill we will vote on later today calls into question the excessive speculation occurring in the marketplace. Are we going to allow the oil futures market to continue to profit from ripping-off our hardworking constituents, or are we to pass and enforce responsible regulations on energy futures trading? Families who already struggle to pay fuel bills, should not be forced to choose between putting food on the table and keeping their house warm as energy traders continue to line their pockets.

This bill will not solve our energy problems. Forcing speculation out of the market is not a substitute for real commitment to a long term energy policy. As a nation that possesses less than 2 percent of the world's oil reserves, but uses 25 percent of the world's oil, we must adopt new policies--higher mileage standards for our vehicles, higher energy efficiency standards, tax incentives for clean energy alternatives, better construction designs, restoration of mass transit and rail--we can create jobs, improve our environment, develop affordable energy, and strengthen our national security.

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