Mike Conaway: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3336, the Small Business Credit…”

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3336, the Small Business Credit Availability Act. Today's bill makes several narrow changes to the law which will further clarify exactly how Congress intended for the CFTC to implement the new swap dealer registration requirements under Dodd-Frank. In the law, Congress authorized the CFTC to exclude small financial institutions that provide swaps in connection with loans from the heavy regulations as swap dealers. We did so because we understood the importance of allowing these institutions the ability to package together loans and hedging instruments. Offering loans in this way allows small financial institutions to offset some of their underlying risk and offer lower loan rates to local farmers, ranchers, and small businesses. These lower loan rates mean the businesses that sustain our rural communities will have greater access to the capital they need to continue to invest in their growing businesses. With the Entity Definitions recently released by the CTFC--although not yet published in the Federal Reserve--the CFTC took steps towards resolving the issues addressed by H.R. 3336. However, it left some undone. Unfortunately, the current rule is silent on the commodity swaps for agricultural businesses, is unnecessarily restrictive of farm credit system institutions, and applies arbitrary time restrictions on excluded swaps. H.R.…”