The entire country is struggling to cope with the record high prices at the pump while energy executives enjoy record-high profits. At a time when the price of oil reaches new highs every week, Congress has an obligation to ensure that our energy markets are free from the possibility of tampering and manipulation that costs Americans in their excessive energy bills.

Our provision will not solve America’s entire energy calamity. Indeed, this Congress must use our current energy state as a challenge and bridge the political differences to invest in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and pass long-term extensions of tax credits that are actually set to expire at the end of this year. But this provision will provide authority for the CFTC to ensure that our prices are not being manipulated by the futures markets and those prices are truly reflective of supply and demand. This is an essential step forward in improving America’s faith in our energy markets, and I hope that my colleagues can use our bipartisan work on this issue as a template as we tackle the energy crisis today in America.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Uncategorized .