The House passed, 265-144, its bill to reauthorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the regulator of the vast derivatives market. The legislation now goes to the Senate, where the Agriculture Committee is working on its own draft. In the House rollcall, all but one Republican voted for the bill. Most Democrats – 143 – voted against the bill but 46 of them joined 219 Republican in supporting it.
The bill creates new protections for customers’ funds held by trading houses and reduces regulation of so-called end users such as food processors, utilities, airlines and manufacturers. House Agriculture chair Frank Lucas said end users “represent 94 percent of American job creators. I am hopeful that the Senate will take up this wide-ranging, bipartisan bill in a timely fashion so market participants have the certainty they deserve.”
“These are areas where we can certainly work together,” Senate Agriculture chair Debbie Stabenow said, referring to customer protections and end user regulation. She faulted the House bill for “no additional funding mechanism and…new layers of administrative burdens” when “a 21st Century regulator” needs resources, authority, staff and equipment to police the market. She pointed to the 2008-09 recession caused by collapse of financial markets. “We have an important opportunity for market reform, to restore faith in the markets and help ensure they are transparent and functioning as intended.”