Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing today on federal efforts to reduce the impacts of windstorms.

I would love to see some general pilot programs to try to specify and see exactly how all these new ideas work before we mess around with something that has worked so well for so long.

Pass that bill, and in the meantime, work on the other things that we want to try.

Companion legislation (H.R. 1155) has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Insurance Subcommittee Chairman Randy Neugebauer and Rep. David Scott.

We have to stop that and we have to stop it now because, quite honestly, we are reaching, I think, a tipping point in this country with $16.6 trillion in debt.

What we do know is that there is kind of a trend here, that government doesn't do a good job at pricing risk.

Inappropriately applying position limits to such funds could significantly reduce investor access to commodity markets, shrink market liquidity, impede price discovery, and destabilize the market.

This letter constitutes the clearest expression of legislative history in this area.

I am concerned that the rule fails to distinguish between speculators on the one hand and certain broadly diversified, passive index funds on the other.

As I am talking to the market participants, particularly in the swaps area, they think the Grinch has stolen Christmas.

I support this authority.