On a voice vote during a brief meeting in the Capitol, the Senate Agriculture Committee approved the nominations of Rostin Behnam, Brian Quintenz and Dawn Stump for commissioners of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the watchdog agency for the derivatives market. If confirmed by the Senate, the nominations would restore the CFTC to nearly its full complement of five commissioners.
With committee approval, the nominees face a confirmation vote by the Senate. The CFTC has two commissioners at the moment: Acting chairman Christopher Giancarlo, a Republican, and Sharon Bowen, a Democrat who says she will resign in the near term as a protest of neglect in the agency.
During a hearing before the Agriculture Committee in late July, the nominees “pledged to work to complete rules that would restrict trading by market speculators who bet on the rise and fall of prices,” said Reuters. The so-called position limits are intended to limit the activities of speculators without harming growers, airlines, utilities, manufacturers and other “end users” who rely on futures contracts to lock in a price or a supply of raw materials.