Energy Policy Act of 2003 - Continued

ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2003—CONTINUED

AMENDMENT NO. 876, AS MODIFIED

    Mr. CRAPO. Thank you, Madam President. I will be very brief.

    I want to reiterate, once again, we are not here dealing with a question of whether those who did try to and succeeded in manipulating markets should be held accountable for that. We are talking about what is the correct way to regulate the derivatives market in our country.

    I would like to read into the RECORD, once again, a portion of a letter which we have just received signed by the Secretary of the Department of the Treasury, John W. Snow; Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; William H. Donaldson, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; and James E. Newsome, Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. They write:

    Dear Senators Crapo and Miller:

    Thank you for your letter of June 10, 2003, requesting the views of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets on proposed Senate Amendment # 876 to S. 14, the pending energy bill. As this amendment is similar to a proposed amendment on which you sought the views of the PWG last year, we reassert the positions expressed in the PWG's response dated September 18, 2002, a copy of which is enclosed. The proposed amendment could have significant unintended consequences for an extremely important risk management market—serving businesses, financial institutions, and investors throughout the U.S. economy. For that reason, we believe that adoption of this amendment is ill-advised.

    And this next paragraph responds directly to the allegations that there is some manipulation in the market and there is a loophole there. They go on to say:

    We would also point out that, since we wrote that letter last year, various federal agencies have initiated actions against wrongdoing in energy markets.

    I do not have time to go through the list of wrongdoing they have initiated action against, but they conclude in their letter:

    These initial actions alone make clear that wrongdoers in the energy markets are fully subject to the existing enforcement authority of federal regulators.

    This amendment will not be helpful to our economy. It will take away one of the needed elements of our economy that gives it the dynamic nature that it has, to be able to resist some of the difficult burdens that the economy has faced in the last several years.

    Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the letter I just referred to dated June 11, 2003, and an additional letter dated September 18, 2002, be printed in the RECORD.

    Mr. CRAPO. Madam President, I encourage my colleagues to vote against the amendment.