Senate staffer Rostin Behnam is in line to become one of five commissioners of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission under a nomination sent to the Senate by President Trump. He is the first Democrat Trump has nominated for the agency, which oversees futures trading.
The CFTC has two commissioners at present: acting chairman Christopher Giancarlo, a Republican, and Sharon Bowen, a Democrat, who intends to resign in the near term in protest of what she said is neglect of the agency. Trump, who has nominated two Republicans for vacancies on the commission, is bound by law to name representatives of the minority party to the remaining seats.
Behnam is senior counsel to Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the senior Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, which has jurisdiction over the CFTC. If confirmed, Behnam would serve a term expiring in June 2021. Stabenow said in a statement, “Russ Behnam has a wide range of experience that would make him an excellent CFTC Commissioner. Over the past several years I have known Russ, he has proven to be knowledgeable and judicious, especially through his work on the implementation of Dodd-Frank.”