II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2548 

To require the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to take certain 

emergency action to eliminate excessive speculation in energy markets. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 26, 2014 

Mr. SANDERS (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. NELSON, Mrs. MCCASKILL, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. FRANKEN, Mr. BROWN, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MERKLEY, 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. MANCHIN, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, Mr. 

SCHATZ, Ms. WARREN, and Mrs. BOXER) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To require the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to 

take certain emergency action to eliminate excessive speculation in energy markets. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. ENERGY MARKETS. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

5 (1) the Commodity Futures Trading Commis6 sion was created as an independent agency, in 1974, 

7 with a mandate— 


sroberts on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2548 IS

1 (A) to enforce and administer the Com2 modity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1 et seq.); 

3 (B) to ensure commodities market integ4 rity; 

5 (C) to protect commodities market users 

6 from fraud and abusive trading practices; and 

7 (D) to prevent and prosecute manipulation 

8 of the price of any commodity in interstate 

9 commerce; 

10 (2) Congress has given the Commodity Futures 

11 Trading Commission authority under the Commodity 

12 Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) to take necessary 

13 actions to address market emergencies; 

14 (3) the Commodity Futures Trading Commis15 sion may use the emergency authority of the Com16 mission with respect to any major market disturb17 ance that prevents the market from accurately re18 flecting the forces of supply and demand for a com19 modity; 

20 (4) Congress declared in section 4a of the Com21 modity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 6a) that excessive 

22 speculation imposes an undue and unnecessary bur23 den on interstate commerce; 

24 (5) according to an article published in Forbes 

25 magazine on February 27, 2012, excessive oil specuVerDate Mar 15 2010 19:44 Jul 07, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2548.IS S2548

sroberts on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2548 IS

1 lation ‘‘translates out into a premium for gasoline at 

2 the pump of $.56 a gallon’’ based on a recent report 

3 from Goldman Sachs; 

4 (6) on June 13, 2014— 

5 (A) the supply of motor gasoline was high6 er than the supply was on June 12, 2009, when 

7 the national average price for a gallon of reg8 ular unleaded gasoline was just $2.64; and 

9 (B) demand for gasoline in the United 

10 States was lower than demand was on June 12, 

11 2009; 

12 (7) on June 23, 2014, the national average 

13 price of regular unleaded gasoline was over $3.68 a 

14 gallon, the highest price for this time of year since 

15 2008, the year gasoline prices hit an all-time high; 

16 (8) excessive oil and gasoline speculation is cre17 ating major market disturbances that prevent the 

18 market from accurately reflecting the forces of sup19 ply and demand; and 

20 (9) the Commodity Futures Trading Commis21 sion has a responsibility— 

22 (A) to ensure that the price discovery for 

23 oil and gasoline accurately reflects the fun24 damentals of supply and demand; and 


sroberts on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2548 IS

1 (B) to take immediate action to implement 

2 strong and meaningful position limits to regu3 lated exchange markets to eliminate excessive 

4 oil speculation. 

5 (b) ACTIONS.—Not later than 14 days after the date 

6 of enactment of this Act, the Commodity Futures Trading 

7 Commission shall use the authority of the Commission (in8 cluding emergency powers)— 

9 (1) to curb immediately the role of excessive 

10 speculation in any contract market within the juris11 diction and control of the Commission, on or 

12 through which energy futures or swaps are traded; 

13 and 

14 (2) to eliminate excessive speculation, price dis15 tortion, sudden or unreasonable fluctuations, or un16 warranted changes in prices, or other unlawful activ17 ity that is causing major market disturbances that 

18 prevent the market from accurately reflecting the 

19 forces of supply and demand for energy commod20 ities. 

Æ 


sroberts on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS