[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4996 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4996
To require the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to take certain
emergency action to eliminate excessive speculation in energy markets.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 26, 2014
Ms. DeLauro (for herself, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Grijalva, and Mr. Welch)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Agriculture
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to take certain
emergency action to eliminate excessive speculation in energy markets.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Energy Markets Emergency Act''.
SEC. 2. 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 in 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 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.
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