S. 2548 — Introduced in Senate

II 113th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 2548 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. Energy markets (a) Findings Congress finds that— (1) the Commodity Futures Trading Commission was created as an independent agency, in 1974, with a mandate— (A) to enforce and administer the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1 et seq.); (B) to ensure commodities market integrity; (C) to protect commodities market users from fraud and abusive trading practices; and (D) to prevent and prosecute manipulation of the price of any commodity in interstate commerce; (2) Congress has given the Commodity Futures Trading Commission authority under the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) to take necessary actions to address market emergencies; (3) the Commodity Futures Trading Commission may use the emergency authority of the Commission with respect to any major market disturbance that prevents the market from accurately reflecting the forces of supply and demand for a commodity; (4) Congress declared in section 4a of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 6a) that excessive speculation imposes an undue and unnecessary burden on interstate commerce; (5) according to an article published in Forbes magazine on February 27, 2012, excessive oil speculation translates out into a premium for gasoline at the pump of $.56 a gallon based on a recent report from Goldman Sachs; (6) on June 13, 2014— (A) the supply of motor gasoline was higher than the supply was on June 12, 2009, when the national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was just $2.64; and (B) demand for gasoline in the United States was lower than demand was on June 12, 2009; (7) on June 23, 2014, the national average price of regular unleaded gasoline was over $3.68 a gallon, the highest price for this time of year since 2008, the year gasoline prices hit an all-time high; (8) excessive oil and gasoline speculation is creating major market disturbances that prevent the market from accurately reflecting the forces of supply and demand; and (9) the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has a responsibility— (A) to ensure that the price discovery for oil and gasoline accurately reflects the fundamentals of supply and demand; and (B) to take immediate action to implement strong and meaningful position limits to regulated exchange markets to eliminate excessive oil speculation. (b) Actions Not later than 14 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission shall use the authority of the Commission (including emergency powers)— (1) to curb immediately the role of excessive speculation in any contract market within the jurisdiction and control of the Commission, on or through which energy futures or swaps are traded; and (2) to eliminate excessive speculation, price distortion, sudden or unreasonable fluctuations, or unwarranted changes in prices, or other unlawful activity that is causing major market disturbances that prevent the market from accurately reflecting the forces of supply and demand for energy commodities.