Dick Lugar: “I come to this amendment from an experience serving on the Agriculture Committee throughout the 27 years of my service…”

“I come to this amendment from an experience serving on the Agriculture Committee throughout the 27 years of my service in the Senate and 6 years as chairman of the committee. The Agriculture Committee spent a great deal of productive time working with the CFTC to make certain that the regulatory aspects with regard to trading were as strong and as just as possible. We did so, not in a sense of being punitive with regard to new markets and new innovations to weigh in on how American enterprise might flourish, but rather to try to give confidence to hundreds of thousands of traders and beyond--the farming community in particular--of our country. That was the basis for the creation of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. We have had renewals of the CFTC during my tenure, and I believe we have improved upon the situation on each occasion. Historically, energy has been exempted from CFTC regulations.”