[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2548 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2548

  To require the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to take certain 
 emergency action to eliminate excessive speculation in energy markets.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 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.
                                 <all>