David Weldon: “There is a reason why there's so much speculation in the oil commodities market, and it is because supply is less than…”

“There is a reason why there's so much speculation in the oil commodities market, and it is because supply is less than demand. This happens in any commodities market. Where demand is exceeding supply, the speculators dive in. And you can try to encourage the CFTC and you can pass new regulations on speculation, but as long as supply is less than demand, the speculators are going to move in. And I will say further, that if you try to regulate this market so much that it becomes dysfunctional, it will just go overseas. And the reason the speculators are getting in is because they know that this Congress does not want to open up American sources of energy. I sit on the Appropriations Committee, and outrageously, today, we had the Interior bill before us, and we had three amendments: one to open up ANWR, a huge source of oil; one to open up our offshore assets of natural gas and oil, which can be done safely with today's technology; and the third is to open up shale. We have more hydrocarbons in shale than the Saudis have oil, but amazingly, the Democratic leadership didn't want to vote on those things. They don't want to open up those sources. That is the political position of the majority, the Democratic majority in this Congress, no increased domestic oil production, and that's why the speculators are pouring in. And there's going to be no relief for price at the pump, no matter what we do in this body, if we do not address the issue of supply. We have domestic energy.…”