Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2289, Commodity End-User Relief Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this resolution and the underlying legislation, H.R. 2289, the Commodity End-User Relief Act.

As chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit, I want to thank our chairman, Mr. Conaway, for his strong leadership and for making this reauthorization process a productive one through the full Ag Committee.

I also want to thank my colleague from Georgia and the ranking member of the Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit Subcommittee, Mr. David Scott. He has been a tremendous partner throughout this effort, and we certainly continue to work well together. I thank him for that.

Derivatives markets exist to meet the risk management needs of farmers, ranchers, utilities, manufacturers, and other end users. To be clear, these hedging activities directly benefit the American citizen by helping to keep consumer costs low and reducing the risk of manufacturing in the United States.

The ability of producers and end users to use the derivatives markets to hedge risk has a direct impact on the cost of living in my district, Georgia's Eighth Congressional District, and every other district around the country. It is essential that we have strong markets that our farmers, ranchers, and end users can utilize to meet their needs effectively.

Earlier this year, our subcommittee held three very productive hearings that built upon the work done in the past two Congresses on this reauthorization effort. In many hours of testimony we heard diverse perspectives from end users, market participants, and regulators that were instrumental in drafting this legislation. Their testimony included outlooks on the unintentional impacts that the market reforms enacted following the 2008 financial crisis were having on the end user community.

Despite congressional attempts to exempt end users from some of the more costly and cumbersome mandates, end users continue to face unnecessary regulatory burdens and uncertainty. With this legislation we have the opportunity to erase that.

H.R. 2289, the Commodity End-User Relief Act, seeks to clarify congressional intent, minimize regulatory burdens, and most importantly, preserve the ability for those necessary risk management markets to serve those who need them.

I believe we have met these objectives of ensuring that our regulatory framework protects the integrity of our markets while not limiting the ability of end users to access these tools to conduct their business.

I am proud to support both this resolution and the underlying legislation, Mr. Speaker, and I urge my colleagues to join me in so doing.

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