| WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Congressman Sam Graves issued the following statement on the economy:
“It is clear to the American people that the mortgage and investment business in our nation is seriously broken. The Justice Department should look into the actions of these companies to determine if criminal wrongdoing occurred and punish those who have broken the law. Congress should hold hearings to determine exactly how this happened and ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
“We need to shine the light of transparency on Wall Street to make sure that speculators’ personal greed never puts our economy at risk again. Those who have bankrupted companies and threatened our economy should not receive lucrative severance packages while our families see their 401Ks and pensions disappear into thin air. I have fought the speculators on Wall Street who threaten our economy and will do it again to make sure that our economy is not put at risk.”
“While I have serious concerns about our federal government stepping in to bail out these companies, I also am wary that with complete failure of several of these firms our entire economy and the savings of millions of Americans could be lost. There is no easy answer now. The only sure answer is to make certain this never happens again.”
Background
In the 109th Congress, Congressman Graves 2005 introduced H.R. 1638 the Commodities Exchange Improvements Act of 2005 to bring more transparency and stop the market manipulation of natural gas prices. The legislation was met with immediate opposition from traders in New York specifically from New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and Goldman Sachs.
The Commodities Exchange Improvements Act of 2005 was folded into H.R. 4473, a compromise bill, passed the House. This legislation was defeated in the Senate due to opposition from New York traders lead by the NYMEX.
In the 110th Congress, Congressman Graves re-introduced his legislation to bring more transparency to commodities trading, H.R. 3009, the Market Transparency Reporting of United States Transactions Act of 2007. On September 18, 2008 the House passed legislation that included the intent of H.R. 3009 and was broadened to include other energy commodities - including oil.
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