[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 85 (Tuesday, June 14, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H4094]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              DERIVATIVES

  (Mr. HIMES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to talk about something 
that most Americans don't know much about: derivatives.
  Derivatives are basically big bets on the future of the housing 
market, the future of oil prices that, amongst other things, AIG used 
to destroy itself, requiring the Bush administration to put together a 
bailout package that was so controversial that we got to pay for.
  Derivatives are also used by speculators to take position in energy 
markets. Don't take it from me. Goldman Sachs says that $20 to $30 of 
the price of a barrel of oil today is associated with speculation in 
the energy markets.
  Now, you'd think given all this that we might regulate derivatives, 
which we haven't done before, and you'd be right, except for the fact 
that the bill that we're talking about today, the Agriculture bill, 
would gut money for the CFTC, which will be the regulator of the 
derivatives markets.
  Now, the majority can't say we shouldn't regulate them. So, instead, 
in their zeal to deregulate everything, they're saying let's gut the 
regulators' ability to look after these contractors.
  Sounds crazy? It is.

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