Econintersect: The Republican spending bill from the House has cuts for the CFTC (Commodities and Futures Trading Commission). A quote from a Bloomberg article in June explains why:
“I understand that those in the Big Government circles of Washington love more regulations, more government growth, but to say to the taxpayers that funding CFTC at a higher, unprecedented level is going to avoid the need for bailouts is ridiculous,” Representative Jack Kingston of Georgia, the chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture said June 14 on the House floor.
Many Republicans have been insisting that less regulation, not more, is needed for economic recovery.
Now Wall Street has joined the battle. Reuters reports that a second major legal assault on the biggest overhaul of U.S. financial regulations in decades, suing to block new rules on commodity speculation authorized by the Dodd-Frank act of 2010. The suit filed Friday, December 3, charges the new CFTC rule to prevent excessive speculation in markets like oil and gold was procedurally flawed and “lacked a reasoned basis.”
The suit is being brought by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association.
From Reuters:
The broadside from Wall Street comes as the financial sector and Republicans intensify efforts to push back on regulators trying to implement last year’s sweeping Dodd-Frank reforms, including starving the CFTC of funds.
Hat tip to Roger Erickson.
