It is Time for the CFTC to Act

Floor Speech

Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the investment firm Goldman Sachs came out with an amazing statement, which is that $27 per barrel of oil today is the result of excessive speculation; it has no connection to supply and demand. What that means is a motorist in the State of Connecticut who is now paying $4 a gallon for gas should be paying only $3 a gallon; but all the speculation which oil delivery guys and gas station owners have been screaming about for the last 3 months is the factor that is driving up the price of gas.

Last year, the commodities trading commission in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform bill was given the authority to limit the amount of outside speculator participation in energy futures trading markets. They have not implemented those rules. It is time for them to act. It is time for the CFTC to issue these new rules and to protect America's consumers and small businesses.

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