In a letter submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Wednesday, U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) called for the completion of a rule to curb excessive futures contracts in certain commodities, criticizing the commission for the lengthy delays since revising a proposal to tighten the reins on excessive speculation in 2013.
“We are disturbed by the CFTC’s action to delay this rulemaking and your inability to guide the rule to completion in the two and a half years of your tenure,” the senators said. “Instead of working to achieve a balanced rule based on years of consideration and comments since the November 2013 reproposal of the rule, you have simply kicked the issue into the future and created the uncertainty that you stated you were trying to avoid.”
The senators urged the CFTC to complete the rule quickly, expressing concern that it would be weakened or delayed further. CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad indicated that the rule should be finished by the end of the year.
“Now, in December, we see that our concerns were well founded — the rule has been unnecessarily delayed and is now on track to be weaker,” the senators said.
In their letter, the senators pressed for a quick completion of the rule prior to Massad stepping down from his role as chairman in 2017.