Published: July 23, 2008 01:48 pm            

Chambliss expresses concern over plan addressing energy speculation

Submitted by Sen. Chambliss' office



WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) on Tuesday took to the Senate floor to express his concerns that S.3286, the “Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act” sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D- Nev.), was not considered before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, the committee of jurisdiction. Chambliss said many problems exist in the bill because the Committee did not have the opportunity to review the legislation before it was brought to the floor.

“When Congress tackles issues of such complexity, we must make certain that we do not ignore the potential unintended consequences that I believe will result from this approach,” said Chambliss. “We simply have not had the opportunity to fully explore the possibility that implementation of this legislation could have negative impacts, such as driving the price of crude oil up further. The real issue is that factual data is lacking in this debate, which unfortunately allows everyone to paint the picture convenient for their cause.”

Last month, the Senate Agriculture Committee held a joint hearing with the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) budget and regulatory oversight. During the hearing, Chambliss cautioned his colleagues not to rush into legislating an uninformed solution.

“I am not opposed to all aspects of this bill, rather I believe many of the components designed to yield more transparency in these markets are necessary,” said Chambliss. “We must ensure that the information both the regulators and Congress use to ensure proper oversight is accurate to warrant our actions, but this language goes far beyond what I consider reasonable. A reasonable market oversight component could be developed as part of a bipartisan, comprehensive package, but unfortunately, this approach is only distracting us from developing more reasonable and balanced legislation.”

Chambliss is leading a bipartisan group of 10 senators working to develop a meaningful and comprehensive energy package.

To listen to Chambliss’ floor speech, go to http://www.senate.gov/~src/radio.

        

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