Today, House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig (MN-02) delivered the following opening statement at a full committee hearing titled “CFTC Reauthorization: Stakeholder Perspectives.” Watch the full hearing here.

[As prepared for delivery.]

Thank you to our witnesses for being here today, and for the opportunity to hold this very important hearing as we look at reauthorizing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.  

As we all know, for the past 12 years, the CFTC has been operating without formal congressional authorization since it lapsed in 2013. A lot has happened since that time. 

As industry and markets change, we need to make sure the CFTC has the necessary tools to handle these changes while maintaining its core function of ensuring the integrity, resilience and vibrancy of the markets it currently oversees. 

We all know that a well-regulated financial system keeps our country strong and prosperous while protecting Americans. For 50 years, the CFTC has been the cop on the beat for U.S. derivative markets and making sure these markets work, not just for Wall Street, not just for the exchanges and clearinghouses themselves, but for Main Street Americans and commercial businesses whose livelihoods are impacted by these markets every day. 

But it takes resources to have effective oversight over these markets and protect the customers who use them. At previous hearings on reauthorizing the CFTC, we heard from commercial end users of these markets about the agency’s “stagnant funding” and how the agency needs sufficient resources; otherwise, its ability to ensure the integrity of the more traditional commodity markets for risk management purposes will be diminished.1 If the users of these markets get it, we should too. 

The recent gutting of staff at the agency, the last-minute withdrawal of a CFTC Chair nominee because a friend of the president didn’t like him and the lack of nominees for other Commissioner positions demonstrate the Trump administration’s lack of respect for the agency, its staff and its mission. I don’t envy the challenge that the new CFTC Chair nominee, Mr. Selig, faces to turn all this around once he gets confirmed. 

I want to thank our witnesses for coming in today and for your testimony and sharing your perspectives. We may not agree on everything, but we can all agree that a well-resourced and appropriately staffed CFTC is critical to a healthy financial system, and to accomplish these goals, it's critical that we work together and across the aisle. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing, and with that, I yield back.