Dianne Feinstein: “I would like to indicate my full support for this. This effort actually began 6 years ago. Some of us were here then…”

“I would like to indicate my full support for this. This effort actually began 6 years ago. Some of us were here then, including Senator Cantwell who is here tonight, Senator Harkin, Senator Levin, Senator Snowe, Senator Conrad, when we began this effort. It looks like opportunity and timing are once again coming together. We have a bill that today has the general support of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, the electronic exchange known as ICE, the New York Mercantile Exchange known as NYMEX, the Chicago Mercantile, and the President's Working Group. This legislation, supported by myself, Senator Levin, Senator Snowe, as well as Senator Cantwell--I have a list here--Senator Conrad, obviously Senator Chambliss, and Senator Crapo would accomplish that. I would like to point out that under Senator Levin's leadership and his Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which did an investigation into the absence of oversight and transparency on some of these markets, became a guide for this push and effort. I would like to very briefly say what this legislation does. It increases transparency in energy markets to deter traders from manipulating the price of oil and natural gas futures traded on electronic markets.”