Democrats are getting impatient waiting for new rules aimed at curbing speculation on commodities.
Sherrod Brown, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, joined three other Democrats Friday in calling on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to finish a long-delayed rule limiting the size of bets traders can make in markets for commodities like oil, gold and corn.
“Excessive speculation in the commodity markets impacts consumers and the vital resources that consumers rely on,” the senators wrote in a letter to CFTC chairman Timothy Massad. “Commodity markets must be liquid and efficient, but also subject to effective rules that guard against manipulation, fraud and abuse.”
The letter comes in the wake of a controversy surrounding the rule, which has been under consideration since 2013. In February, an advisory committee comprising industry representatives released a report recommending that the commission drop its plans to limit the number of future contracts traders can enter into for certain commodities. Democrats, including Brown, objected to the report as an effort by the industry to weaken the rule.
“Now that the distraction of the report is out of the way, we urge you to move forward and finalize CFTC’s rules for speculative position limits,” wrote the group, which included Brown, who represents Ohio, as well as Dianne Feinstein of California, Maria Cantwell of Washington and Joe Donnelly of Indiana.
The senators went on to warn that “excessive speculation” could hurt consumers, noting the recent wild swings in oil prices that have generated macroeconomic uncertainty.
The rule was re-proposed in 2013 after an earlier version was tossed out by a federal court. The CFTC was mandated to come up with a rule by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law.
