Senate Proceeding on Jul 24th, 2008 :: 4:42:55 to 4:48:56
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4:27:24 to 4:42:55( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: James Inhofe

4:42:46 to 4:42:55( Edit History Discussion )

James Inhofe: whether it's the outer continental shelf, anwr, rocky mountain oil shales, preserving access to the canadian oil sands, the democrats, to the very last one, have voted against it. we've got to increase

4:42:55 to 4:43:08( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: supply. we've got to keep saying it. and even people with basic educations know that supply and demand is alive and well in america, i t's diswhraws we have too much demand and not enough supply. we've

4:42:55 to 4:48:56( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Saxby Chambliss

4:43:08 to 4:43:20( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: got to open it up. i will yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from georgia.to mr. chambliss: mr. president, i thank my ckolleague from oklahoma for yielding

4:43:20 to 4:43:34( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: me part of his time time. and he certainly makes a very convincing case. mr. president, i rise to discuss the actions taken today by the commodity futures trading commission to combat manipulation

4:43:34 to 4:43:43( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: in the futures market specifically relating to energy activity. at 11:00 this morning, the acting commissioner -- acting chairman of the commodities futures trading commission had a news conference

4:43:43 to 4:43:56( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: -- at a news conference announced that it was bringing an action against a hedge fund for manipulating and attempting to manipulate the crude oil, heating oil, and gasoline markets. this proves that

4:43:56 to 4:44:10( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: the cftc is policing the market for suspicious activity. they are not sitting back and allowing traders to run wild, as some in congress have suggested. while this particular case is specif ic to manipulation,

4:44:10 to 4:44:24( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: it only makes sense that the surveillance efforts used to identify this activity are also providing much-needed additional data to the commissioners for ongoing monitoring efforts to detect excessive

4:44:24 to 4:44:37( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: speculation, the subject of much debate here on the senate floor. unfortunately, some have even confused these two terms and i want to clarify this. manipulation is illegal while speculation is a

4:44:37 to 4:44:49( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: normal occurrence in all of our futures markets. that said, the commission has recognized that more information is necessary to ensure that speculation has not become excessive, and i happen to

4:44:49 to 4:45:03( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: agree with them. we do need more information in order to make an accurate assessment of the situation there. have been many assertions made in the senate which are not based on factual information.~

4:45:03 to 4:45:18( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: it's never a good idea to propose a solution for a market condition without carefully analyzing all of the facts. an uninformed solution no matter how well intentioned it is can easily result in counterproductive

4:45:18 to 4:45:31( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: outcomes. many in this body accused the cftc of timidly utilizing their enforcement authorities are only utilizing these authorities after extreme prompting from congress. to the contrary. this particular

4:45:31 to 4:45:50( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: civil enforcement action filed today in the united states district court for the southern district of new york was uncovered as part of an investigation initiated by the cftc for offenses that took

4:45:50 to 4:46:05( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: place in march of 2007. long before some began blaming cftc for the $4 gasoline. working proactively was the nymex, the cftc was able to uncover wrongdoing and assure that the violators of the

4:46:05 to 4:46:18( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: exchange act are brought to justice. this case took place over an 11-day period, the new york mercantile exchange as they have the authority to do and the information to carry out that authority

4:46:18 to 4:46:32( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: saw exactly what was happening in the early part of that they followed it, they immediately shut the hedge fund operator down. in this 11-day period in march of 2007 occurred over a year ago. the ongoing

4:46:32 to 4:46:46( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: investigation has taken a year to get to point where it is ready for prosecution. fortunately the cftc had been able to fulfill the regulatory oversight responsibilities in spite of being underfunded.

4:46:46 to 4:46:59( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: today's announcement affirms a dedication an hard work exhibited by those employees at cftc. we should not continue to hold up the confirmation of those, both democrat and republican nominees, who

4:46:59 to 4:47:12( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: the president has nominated to carry out this very important regulatory task. the american people would be much better served with a fully seated commission, a senate confirmed chairman and more regulatory

4:47:12 to 4:47:22( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: oversight staff than by the baseless allegations that have been made by some. if we are truly interested in a fully functioning regulatory body, let's provide the agency with the tools rather

4:47:22 to 4:47:39( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: than wrongly condemning them for lack of enforce. why and i would close, mr. chairman by saying during the process of the passage of the recent farm bill that passed overwhelmingly in this body,

4:47:39 to 4:48:01( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: we took action relative to market regulation by closing the so-called enron loop that allowed for some sales on the market to take place without the ability on part of the regulators to get all the information

4:48:01 to 4:48:12( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: relative to those particular trades. in in addition to allowing the -- the market regulators to get the information, we also increased the penalty for a in a manipulation like the cftc filed for $100

4:48:12 to 4:48:26( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: per incident to $1 million per incident. so we're in the process of giving cftc the tools that they need. we need to continue down that road. but let's don't destroy the markets and here we're seeing

4:48:26 to 4:48:39( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: a good example of how the tools in the hands of the regulators are being used in the appropriate way and when someone trys to take advantage of the system, the cftc, as well as the nymex, c.m.e.,

4:48:39 to 4:48:56( Edit History Discussion )

Saxby Chambliss: all of our boards of trade, have the ability to stop this type of manipulation and prosecute wrongdoers. with that, mr. president, i would yield back. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer:

4:48:56 to 4:49:11( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: the senator from idaho. mr. craig: mr. president, forre the last 36 hours now -- we here in the sen ate have been attempting to move forward on substantive policy that would produce more oil and bring

4:48:56 to 4:59:44( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Larry Craig