Date: 1982-12-16
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am pleased to bring up at this time the conference report on H.R. 5447 for consideration by the House. The report is the culmination of many months of effort that began early this year with the Committee on Agriculture. The report has broadbased support on both sides of the aisle. and has been signed by all the conferees from the House and Senate. For the most part the bills passed by the House and the Senate were identical in their provisions. There were. however. a few substantive differences which were resolved In the conference in a fair and equitable manner that largely preserves the intent of the bill that earlier had passed the House. I wish first to extend my appreciation to the many Members of the House and Senate who contributed to this effortto Senator HELMS chairman of the conference. for the gracious and cooperative manner in which he chaired the conference and the able assistance provided by him the ranking minority member. Senator HUDDLESTON and the other conferees from the Senate. I would also like to pay tribute to my colleagues in the HouseCongressman ED JONES. chairman of the subcommittee. for his tireless efforts in behalf of this legislation. to the minority leaders of the committee. Mr. WAMPLER. ranking minority member. and Mr. JEFFORDS. the ranking minority member of the subcommittee. to Mr. GLICKMAN. who contributed so much toward refining the provisions of the bill. and to the other House Members from our committee. 7nally. I wish to express my appreciation to the distinguished chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Congressman DINGELL and his associates from that committee for their cooperation in working out a mutually satisfactory solution to issues that affect the jurisdiction of our two committees. In the past 5 years futures trading volume has nearly tripled from 37 million contracts to more than 100 million contracts annually. In the month of October 1982 alone. there were in excess of 10 million contracts tradedan increase of 29 percent from the comparable month in 1981. The term "commodity" has come to embrace a variety of financial instruments. previous metals. and natural resource Items.as well as domestic and international agricultural products. The surge in trading reflects the increased use of the futures market by financial institutions and businesses to shift their price risk to othersa process known as hedging. It also reflects the use of the markets by the general publicnot only as individual customers but through professionally managed commodity pools and accounts. It is particularly timely for this reauthorization bill to be considered at this time in view of the explosion that has taken place in the industry since the last full scale review of the Commodity Exchange Act in 1978. The conference report is a carefully crafted and balanced piece of legislation. It streamlines the operations of the CFTC. provides the Commission the tools it needs to protect the public interest in an effective manner and accommodates the interests of the many persons who make use of the commodity markets. In brief. the conference report extends the authorization for appropri. ations of the Commission 4 years. It accommodates the jurisdictional interests of the Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission over futures contracts on stock indexes and certain types of options transactions. It provides an expanded role for the States in combating fraud in commodities trading. It authorizes a pilot program for trading in agricultural options. It encourages the development of an effective selfregulatory agency by the industry. the National Futures Association. It provides additional remedies for violation of the act. It provides for a broadbased study of the effects of the economy of trading in futures contracts and options to be administered by the Federal Reserve Commission and the Treasury Department. It clarifies the authority of the CFTC to collect service fees but does not authorize the imposition of any transaction fee or tax. Finally in another important provision. the conference report contains an export contract sanctity amendment which originated in the Senate. It provides that if the Government should impose an export embargo on agricultural commodities. the embargo could not apply to a contract signed before the embargo was imposed. if the contract called for delivery within 270 days after the imposition of the trade restriction. The new provision would not apply. however. during periods of declared war or national emergency. I would like now to discuss in more detail some of the important issues that were resolved in conference.