Conaway: No increased funding for CFTC until reauthorization
July 29, 2015 |06:58 PM
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Michael Conaway, R-Texas, said today he is opposed to any increased funding for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission until it is reauthorized.
“Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have proposed level funding for the agency, and I do not believe it is appropriate to have any conversation that moves that line while so many end-user and good-government issues remain outstanding and unresolved,” Conaway said at a hearing to assess the progress of global derivatives reforms since the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law five years ago.
“This is not a position I take lightly, which I hope highlights the importance in which I hold the reauthorization of every agency or program under the jurisdiction of this committee,” he said.
Conaway also noted that the House Agriculture Committee has twice written and gotten the House to pass reauthorization bills while the Senate Agriculture Committee has not developed one.
Despite the lack of authorization, appropriations to the agency have increased from $194 million at the end of fiscal year 2013 to $250 million this year, an increase of 29 percent in two years, Conaway noted.
House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., said that Title VII of the Dodd-Frank bill had provided for central clearing, margin and price transparency in the swaps market, which he said means that the swaps and derivatives markets “as a whole are now much safer for end-users, consumers, market participants and taxpayers than they were seven years ago.”
Peterson also said he believes CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad has been a good leader in trying to coordinate the CFTC’s rules with those of foreign regulators.
“I do want to make sure though that whatever action we take doesn’t muck up the chairman’s progress,” said Peterson, who was critical of the bill that the House passed earlier this year.
Peterson added, however, that trade data reporting “is very important, and non-controversial, but it is no secret that it isn’t working as well as it should. That’s something we need to address.”
The committee heard testimony from a series of industry witnesses.
“Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have proposed level funding for the agency, and I do not believe it is appropriate to have any conversation that moves that line while so many end-user and good-government issues remain outstanding and unresolved,” Conaway said at a hearing to assess the progress of global derivatives reforms since the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law five years ago.
“This is not a position I take lightly, which I hope highlights the importance in which I hold the reauthorization of every agency or program under the jurisdiction of this committee,” he said.
Conaway also noted that the House Agriculture Committee has twice written and gotten the House to pass reauthorization bills while the Senate Agriculture Committee has not developed one.
Despite the lack of authorization, appropriations to the agency have increased from $194 million at the end of fiscal year 2013 to $250 million this year, an increase of 29 percent in two years, Conaway noted.
House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., said that Title VII of the Dodd-Frank bill had provided for central clearing, margin and price transparency in the swaps market, which he said means that the swaps and derivatives markets “as a whole are now much safer for end-users, consumers, market participants and taxpayers than they were seven years ago.”
Peterson also said he believes CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad has been a good leader in trying to coordinate the CFTC’s rules with those of foreign regulators.
“I do want to make sure though that whatever action we take doesn’t muck up the chairman’s progress,” said Peterson, who was critical of the bill that the House passed earlier this year.
Peterson added, however, that trade data reporting “is very important, and non-controversial, but it is no secret that it isn’t working as well as it should. That’s something we need to address.”
The committee heard testimony from a series of industry witnesses.
Witness testimony
- Terrence Duffy, executive chairman and president, CME Group, Chicago
- Scott O’Malia, chief executive officer, International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc., New York
- Christopher Edmonds, senior vice president, financial markets, Intercontinental Exchange, Chicago
- Larry Thompson, vice chairman and general counsel, Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, New York
- John Parsons, Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, Mass.
