[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 85 (Tuesday, June 14, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H4095-H4096]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1220
           COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION FUNDING CUTS

  (Mr. ELLISON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, the American middle class wants Washington 
to create jobs and put unemployed people out of work back to work.

[[Page H4096]]

  But here we go again. The Republicans show that they aren't listening 
and that they don't really care about protecting the middle class. 
Today, Republicans are going to spend their time in Washington helping 
speculators, speculators inflate gas prices and food prices, making 
sure that oil companies keep getting unnecessary tax breaks.
  The Agriculture appropriations bill to be considered today by the 
House is just another part of the Republican agenda to reward 
millionaires while leaving everybody else behind.
  Tucked away in the end of the appropriations bill we'll consider 
today is a provision that would cut money for the Commodity Futures 
Trading Commission. Now what is the Commodity Futures Trading 
Commission? It's a cop on the beat. It's a cop on the beat whose job it 
is to make sure that the speculators don't drive up the price of 
commodities like gasoline, like food, like wheat, things like that.
  And at a time when the middle class is being squeezed by high gas 
prices, this is the wrong time to side with the millionaires and 
billionaires and against the American people.

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