The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) was created in 1974 through enactment of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Act to regulate commodities futures and options markets. At the time these markets were poised to expand beyond their traditional base in agricultural commodities to encompass contracts based on financial variables, such as interest rates and stock indexes. The CFTC's mission is to prevent excessive speculation, manipulation of commodity prices, and fraud. The agency administers the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), which was passed in 1936. Prior to the CFTC's creation, trading in agricultural commodities regulated by the CEA was overseen by the Commodity Exchange Administration, an office within the U.S. Department of Agriculture which was also formed in 1936. The CFTC oversees industry self-regulatory organizations (SROs)—such as the futures exchanges and the National Futures Association—and requires the registration of a range of industry firms and personnel, including futures commission merchants (or brokers), floor traders, commodity pool operators, and commodity trading advisers. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank) significantly expanded the CFTC's jurisdiction to include over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, also called swaps. As a result of Dodd-Frank, major participants in the swaps markets must register with the CFTC, and certain swaps must be cleared by clearinghouses and traded on electronic trading platforms similar to exchanges. Newly regulated swap market participants include swap dealers, major swap participants, swap clearing organizations, swap execution facilities, and swap data repositories. These entities are subject to new business conduct standards contained in the statute or promulgated as CFTC rules. Like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the CFTC does not generally regulate the safety and soundness of individual firms, with the exception of newly regulated swap dealers and major swap participants, for whom it will set capital standards pursuant to Dodd-Frank. Although most derivatives trading in today's market relates to financial variables (e.g., interest rates, currency prices, and stock indexes), congressional oversight remains vested in the House and Senate Agriculture Committees in part because of the market's historical origins in agricultural commerce. Appropriations for the CFTC are under the jurisdiction of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee in the House and the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee in the Senate. To meet additional responsibilities for oversight of swaps, the Obama Administration has requested additional funding for the CFTC since FY2011, when the CFTC's budget was $202 million. For FY2016, the CFTC requested a budget of $322 million, and a staff of 895 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs). This represented an increase of $72 million (or 29%) and 149 FTEs over the FY2015 enacted appropriations amount of $250 million for the CFTC. The actual amount appropriated for FY2016 in P.L. 114-113 was $250 million. For FY2017, the CFTC requested $330 million and a staff of 897 FTEs. This would represent an increase of $80 million or 32% over the enacted FY2016 amount. Of the requested $80 million increase, the CFTC has targeted 36% of the amount toward information technology investments, and the remaining 64% toward an increase in staffing and related support, particularly in areas such as surveillance, enforcement, economic and legal analysis, and examinations. The President's budget request stated that "this increase is necessary because the Commission has not received budgetary increases sufficient enough to allow full implementation of its responsibilities, which have expanded greatly due to changes and growth in the markets and the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act as well as growth in the markets." The House-reported Agriculture appropriations bill for FY2017 ( H.R. 5054 ) would provide $250 million, constant with the FY2016 enacted amount. The Senate-reported Financial Services appropriations bill ( S. 3067 ) would provide this same amount. The Financial Services Appropriations Act is expected to carry the FY2017 CFTC appropriation, according to the alternating placement with the Agriculture Appropriations Act in recent years. Organizationally, the CFTC is led by five commissioners appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to serve staggered five-year terms. No more than three commissioners at any one time may be from the same political party. The President designates one commissioner to serve as chair. The agency is organized around four divisions: Clearing and Risk , which oversees derivatives clearing organizations and other major market participants; Enforcement , which investigates and prosecutes alleged violations of the CEA and CFTC regulations; Market Oversight , which conducts trade surveillance and oversees trading facilities, such as futures exchanges and swap execution facilities, and swap data repositories; and Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight , which oversees registration and compliance by SROs, such as the futures exchanges (e.g., the Chicago Mercantile Exchange), the National Futures Association, and the registration of swap dealers and major swap participants. The CEA, the statute governing futures and swaps markets in which the CFTC administers, contains a sunset provision. This means Congress must periodically reauthorize appropriations to carry out the CEA. However, if an explicit authorization of appropriations for a program or activity is present—as in the CEA—and it expires, the underlying authority in the statute to administer such a program or engage in such an activity does not. In other words, the CFTC continues functioning and administering the CEA even if its authorization has expired—which has been the case since the last CFTC reauthorization expired on September 30, 2013. It has not been uncommon for Congress to pass CFTC reauthorization bills several years after the prior authorization had expired. The 114 th Congress is considering new CFTC reauthorization bills. Historically, the reauthorization process has often been one of the principal vehicles for modifying the CFTC's regulatory authority and evaluating the efficacy of its regulatory programs. Congress often uses the reauthorization process as a vehicle to consider a wide range of issues related to the regulation of derivatives trading. The current CFTC reauthorization process is the first since the Dodd-Frank Act's passage brought the more than $400 trillion U.S. swaps market under regulatory oversight. For some in Congress, it may be an opportunity to reexamine provisions of Dodd-Frank they feel may have created excessive regulatory burdens or industry costs. Others have been critical of any perceived weakening of derivatives oversight introduced in the wake of the financial crisis. Still others may be using the current CFTC reauthorization process to try to make changes to futures regulation that industry, or regulators themselves, have long sought. In the 114 th Congress, the House passed H.R. 2289 , the Commodity End-User Relief Act, on June 9, 2015, by a vote of 246 to 171. Among other changes to the CEA, H.R. 2289 as passed would reauthorize appropriations for the CFTC. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry on June 10, 2015. The Obama Administration threatened to veto H.R. 2289 , stating that the bill "undermines the efficient functioning of the CFTC by imposing a number of organizational and procedural changes and would undercut efforts taken by the CFTC over the last year to address end-user concerns." On April 14, 2016, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry marked up and ordered to be reported a CFTC reauthorization bill, S. 2917 . On May 10, 2016, S. 2917 was reported to the Senate without written report and placed on the Senate legislative calendar under general orders. Among its other changes, H.R. 2289 as passed, and S. 2917 , would amend the short Authorization of Appropriations section in the CEA (7 U.S.C. §16(d)). The section currently authorizes the appropriation of "such sums as are necessary to carry out" the chapter of the CEA "through 2013," and H.R. 2289 as passed, and S. 2917 , would both amend it to read "through 2019." The next sections examine more closely selected major provisions of the House CFTC reauthorization bill, H.R. 2289 , and S. 2917 (each titled The Commodity End-User Relief Act), which have generally been the most actively debated—beginning with the bills' changes to required cost-benefit analysis in CFTC regulatory actions. This section analyzes the provision in H.R. 2289 that would expand the number of factors for the CFTC to consider in cost-benefit analysis, and include the need for quantitative as well as qualitative analysis, among other changes. It first examines the existing requirements for the CFTC to conduct cost-benefit analysis; then the changes in H.R. 2289 ; and then the academic research on how valuable cost-benefit analysis may be. S. 2917 does not have a similar provision on cost-benefit analysis. The CFTC already has certain requirements to perform cost-benefit analysis in its rulemakings under the CEA. The CFTC and other independent regulatory agencies (such as the SEC) are not subject to the general requirements that apply to other government agencies to conduct cost-benefit analysis under Executive Order 12866.