Collin Peterson

Mr. PETERSON

Mr. PETERSON. I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Chairman, I am now pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney).

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. David Scott).

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Sarbanes).

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Chairman, we have no other speakers on our side either. In closing, I want to thank the chairman, Mr. Lucas, and Congressman Conaway and Congressman Scott for their work on this bill, along with Members on both sides of the aisle for their work and their support. I also want to thank the Agriculture Committee staff, especially Clark Ogilvie, who did all our work on Dodd-Frank and did the work on this bill. He has been working on these issues for a long time and I think is seen as one of the most knowledgeable--if not the most knowledgeable--staffers around. I want everybody to give him a round of applause and also announce that tomorrow he is leaving to become the chief of staff at the CFTC, so it is pretty good timing. We would like to thank Mr. Ogilvie for his work. With that, I urge support of H.R. 4413 and yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition.

Mr. PETERSON. In opposition, I want to say that I have no opposition to this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition.

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Chairman, as one great American said: now, we are going to hear the rest of the story. This is a situation where industry lost in court, and now, they are coming to Congress to try to accomplish what they couldn't do through the court system, so I rise in opposition. From President Reagan's time to President Clinton's, the CFTC has--on its own accord--exempted registered investment companies, RICs, from having to register as commodity pool operators or as commodity trade advisers with the CFTC, provided they meet two conditions: one, that the commodity futures activity occurring in the funds they managed was below a set threshold; and, two, that they did not market to retail customers as a commodity pool or investment vehicle for commodity futures or commodity options. During the first term of the second Bush administration, the CFTC eliminated both the threshold and the retail marketing restriction. These steps allowed investment companies unlimited access to commodity futures markets without any CFTC oversight and were opposed by the National Futures Association, the frontline regulator for the CFTC. In 2010, the National Futures Association petitioned the CFTC to reconsider the broad exemption for registration given for RICs. From that request and following the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, giving the Commission new jurisdiction over swaps, the CFTC reconsidered its exemption for RICs and reinstituted the thresholds for trading activity and retail marketing conditions that would trigger registration with the CFTC. Not surprisingly, the Investment Company Institute, which represents these funds and the Chamber of Commerce, then sued the CFTC. The Federal district court ruled in favor of the CFTC, and the court ruled for the agency in summary judgment. The funds appealed, and the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the ruling in favor of the CFTC. After the CFTC won its case, the Commission set up a harmonization regime versus SEC rules for the registered trading advisers who were involved in this. If the CFTC and SEC rules conflict, the RIC can defer to the SEC rules. Despite that accomodation by the Commission, its having lost both the regulation and the litigation, the financial community is here now with this legislation. The Garrett amendment attempts to accomplish what the financial industry could not achieve in the courts. The amendment would permanently remove the CFTC's jurisdiction over RICs registered with the SEC, regardless of how big they play in the futures or swaps market and regardless of their reach to retail customers. The amendment's supporters will say that this only applies to investments in futures, options on futures, and swaps in financial commodities, as opposed to agriculture or energy commodities; but I would remind the Members that it was financial swaps, like credit default swaps, that contributed to the financial collapse in 2008. It wasn't energy or agriculture swaps. The SEC failed in its oversight in 2008. I don't want to have to rely on them to keep an eye on financial instruments, and I don't want to have a repeat of the Bernie Madoff scandal, but, this time, in futures. The CFTC has gone out of its way to accommodate industry concerns over duplicative oversight through its substituted compliance regime. Given their past bad behavior, I don't think we should rely on one agency to keep an eye on these guys, so I urge you to defeat this amendment.

Mr. PETERSON. I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Mr. PETERSON. It is only in certain circumstances.

Mr. PETERSON. I think there is more to it than that.

Mr. PETERSON. They wouldn't go through all of this to try to get the CFTC to do what they wanted, then go through the courts, and then come here with legislation, if this were just some minor registration issue, no.

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. PETERSON

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Speaker, this week there are so many of us mourning the loss of Congressman Jim Oberstar. He was a great leader for transportation and infrastructure, and did many good things for his district and all over the country. For years, I looked to him for his tremendous knowledge on transportation and water issues. We were fortunate to both serve at the same time as Chairmen of the Transportation and Agriculture Committees, respectively, but we used to jokingly say that he was my ``Secretary of Transportation'' and I was his ``Secretary of Agriculture''. I also used to tell him that when he was done paving over his district, he could get to work paving mine. But Congressman Oberstar was about so much more than transportation. He cared deeply about his district and the people who lived there. Countless times I would personally watch him bring 8th District issues directly to the leadership and to the caucus. He never forgot his roots, his passion was contagious, and his love for his family was deep. Jim Oberstar leaves a remarkable legacy in Minnesota and across the country.

Mr. PETERSON

Mr. PETERSON. No, I am not, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Today, as the chairman said, after nearly 4 years of work, the House is finally considering the 2014 farm bill conference report. It has been a challenging and, at times, frustrating process, I think everybody will agree, but through it, the Ag Committee has persevered, and we did what we have always done. We worked together. The report before us today represents a compromise. I know this is rare in Washington, but that is what is needed to actually get something done around this place. I didn't get everything I wanted. The chairman didn't get everything he wanted. That is how the compromise works. For example, there has been a lot of discussion about dairy, but we are moving away from the old dairy program to a new program that I think is much more sensible, that has market signals in it to deal with overproduction. The only question I have is whether they are going to be strong enough. We will find out as we go through the process. In the commodity title, I am still disappointed we didn't vote on planted acres. I think that would have been a smart thing to do, but it wasn't to be. At the end of the day, I believe my reservations are outweighed by the need to provide a long-term certainty for agriculture and nutrition programs and the many positive improvements and reforms included in the final bill. Among other things, the conference report will protect and improve the crop insurance system. That is probably the most important safety net. It continues current sugar policy, streamlines conservation programs so that we can continue to preserve our natural resources, provides disaster assistance for livestock producers, applies conservation protections to crop insurance, and recognizes the growing consumer demand for fresh fruits, vegetables, local foods and organics. In closing, I want to thank the chairman for his work and congratulate him for working with us to get to a final conclusion here. Also, for his Members, our Members, for their support and hanging in there to get to this point. I also want to thank the Agriculture Committee staff who have been working so hard over these last years, night and day, through all these different situations we have been in, and I will submit their names for the Record. Again, Mr. Speaker, this process has gone on too long. We need to conclude it today. I urge my colleagues to support the conference report. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. committee staff Agriculture Committee Democratic Staff: Andy Baker, Nathan Fretz, Liz Friedlander, Keith Jones, Mary Knigge, Rob Larew, Clark Ogilvie, Lisa Shelton, Anne Simmons, Faye Smith; USDA Detailee: Robert Stephenson; Intern: Lauren Becker.

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Costa).

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Schrader).

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Ohio (Ms. Fudge).

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my colleague from Minnesota (Mr. Walz).

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Welch), a former member of the committee.

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Speaker, I am now pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McIntyre). (Mr. McINTYRE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. PETERSON. Mr. Speaker, I am now pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from Washington (Ms. DelBene).