Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow
June 15, 2011
Good morning, and thank you all for being here. The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry will now come to order.
Thank you to our witnesses and to the public for joining us. We are here today to continue the Agriculture Committee’s oversight of Title VII of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. One year after passing financial regulatory reform, it’s important to take a moment to remember why Congress passed this historic legislation.
In 2008, the world held its breath as it watched financial markets collapse and global financial institutions crumble. By the time the crisis subsided, millions of jobs were lost. Not only did hardworking Americans lose their jobs, but many lost their homes, and their life savings.
Make no mistake - the United States experienced an unparalleled crisis that required bold action. The reforms in the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and in particular the derivatives title, were passed to protect the public, reduce systemic risk, increase transparency, and promote competition and decrease costs for companies that use these markets to hedge risk.
I look forward to today’s testimony, to hear from regulators and market participants on the implementation of Title VII. These rules and regulations will significantly impact global financial markets and our economy, which is why we must take the time to get the rules right while not unnecessarily delaying important reforms. To that end, I would like to thank the CFTC for their commitment to phasing-in the reforms, providing temporary relief for regulatory requirements and allowing market participants to weigh-in on the rules as a whole. We have seen a remarkable amount of work coming from the regulators in the past year, and I would like to commend them and their staffs for their hard work.
I have several concerns that I hope the witnesses will address today.
While we gave substantial new authority to the regulators, it will remain critical that the rules reflect congressional intent. The rules must maintain market liquidity, preserve the ability of end-users to hedge and manage risk, and foster transparent, competitive markets.
Regulators must also harmonize regulations not only domestically between agencies but also internationally with other jurisdictions. We must promote international harmonization to ensure that we do not undermine strong reforms to the financial markets.
These oversight hearings are an important part of the process. I look forward to working with my colleagues, the agencies and market participants to ensure that we never allow the failures of the past to be repeated.
I will now turn to Senator Roberts for his opening remarks.
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Source: U.S. Senate Committee On Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry
