Translation:
"I don't give a f*@* what your law says, unless you guys are paying me more than Goldman, I'm not planning on regulating OTC derivatives any time soon."
Must be nice to openly defy federal law with immunity.
DJ CFTC's Gensler: Without Funding, Agency Can't Enforce New
Rules
2011-06-15
By Jamila Trindle
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary
Gensler said Wednesday that his agency wouldn't be able to effectively police derivatives markets without more funding, as the House of Representatives is scheduled to continue debate on the bill that includes the agency's budget for next year.
Last year's Dodd-Frank financial overhaul assigned to the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission the responsibility of writing dozens of new rules creating a new regulatory regime for over-the-counter derivatives known as "swaps," a much larger market than the futures market that the CFTC currently oversees.
"Without sufficient funding for the agency, our nation cannot be assured of effective enforcement of new rules in the swaps market to promote transparency, lower risk and protect against another crisis," Gensler said, in remarks prepared for a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing.
He said it would also hamper the agency's ability to seek out fraud, manipulation and other abuses in commodity markets.
House Republicans have proposed a budget of $172 million for the CFTC in the12-month period beginning Oct. 1, substantially less than the $308 million sought by President Barack Obama.
The funding has been included in a wider $126 billion bill to fund the Department of Agriculture and related agencies that the House could vote to approve as soon as this week.
While the bill is expected to be approved by the House given the sizable Republican majority, it is almost certain not to be taken up by the Democratic-controlled Senate. Rather, like the other spending bills to fund the various departments and agencies of the federal government, it is more likely to be included in a wider budget deal that is currently being negotiated by House and Senate leaders and senior officials from the Obama administration.
