Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act 2015

Floor Speech

Ms. WATERS. I would like to thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, as the ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, I feel it is extremely important to support this amendment. It is extremely important because we know that the work that we did on the reform measure, the Dodd-Frank measure, is so important to try to correct the lack of attention we were giving to our consumers and the fact that we needed to strengthen our financial services agencies.

So when I see there is an attempt to weaken something such as the CFTC or the SEC or the OCC or any of our regulatory agencies, it is important for me to speak out and help people to understand what is being attempted.

I urge support for this amendment to ensure our derivatives cop can protect our financial markets and economy.

Make no mistake, even with this amendment, inadequate Republican funding for the CFTC furthers a larger effort to undermine the oversight of derivatives.

While more funding is needed, this measure will at least prevent layoffs.

The CFTC thwarts Wall Street from manipulating the price of things like oil, corn, and gold. Without it, every American will feel the pain at the pump and the dinner table. The CFTC enforces laws Democrats enacted to rein in companies like AIG, whose activities led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Despite overwhelming need, Republicans would undercut the CFTC under the guise of a modest IT increase, believing that if it just had the right computers, the CFTC could eliminate employees.

What they don't understand is that it takes real people to bring about justice and accountability. With funding far below the requested amount, the CFTC cannot operate without temporarily closing or sacking valuable talent, causing immediate harm to our markets with delays to agency guidance, to investors and businesses, examinations of companies entrusted with your funds, punishment of bad actors, and recovery of victims' money.

This is a continuation of an effort by Republicans and special interests to undercut laws and regulations that protect our consumers. I am not going to stand for it, and I urge Members to support this amendment.

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