[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 103 (Friday, June 20, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1305]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   THE ENERGY MARKETS ANTI-MANIPULATION AND INTEGRITY RESTORATION ACT

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                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 20, 2008

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Madam Speaker, it is with a sense of urgency and 
purpose that I am introducing the Energy Markets Anti-Manipulation and 
Integrity Restoration Act today.
  With high fuel prices squeezing our constituents and burdening our 
economy, we in Congress have a responsibility to act. While individual 
Members of Congress clearly disagree over whether we will ever really 
be able to drill our way out of this challenge--or whether next 
generation alternatives and improved energy efficiency offer the most 
promising way forward, there is one principle on which we should all 
agree: Our energy markets should serve the legitimate needs of energy 
consumers and producers--not enrich a narrow group of ``hot money'' 
speculators at the public's expense. With hedge fund and institutional 
interest in commodities exploding nearly twenty-fold over the past 5 
years, and the price of oil recently spiking over $11 in a single day, 
it is clear that today's energy prices reflect something more than the 
fundamental laws of supply and demand.
  The Energy Markets Anti-Manipulation and Integrity Restoration Act 
would once and for all close the so-called Enron loophole by adding 
energy to the list of commodities that cannot be traded on deregulated, 
exempt commercial markets. Additionally, this focused legislation would 
close the Foreign Board of Trade (FBOT) loophole currently enabling 
unregulated energy futures trading on American soil by forbidding an 
exchange from being deemed an unregulated foreign entity if its trading 
affiliate or trading infrastructure is in the U.S., and it trades a 
U.S.-delivered energy contract that significantly affects price 
discovery in the markets. If enacted into law, these two common-sense 
steps would go a long way towards eliminating market manipulation and 
excessive speculation currently distorting today's energy marketplace.
  I am especially pleased to be offering this timely legislation today 
with my colleagues Representatives Rosa DeLauro, Betty Sutton, Robert 
Wexler, Adam Schiff, Xavier Becerra, Peter Welch, Brian Higgins, Bill 
Delahunt and Raul Grijalva--and I look forward to working with them and 
the rest of the House to address this important issue on behalf our 
constituents in very short order.

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