May 18, 2010
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator:
The over 250 consumer, employee, investor, community and civil rights groups who are members of Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) write to express strong support for SA 4059, the Senate Agriculture Committee’s proposed change to SA 3739, the Dodd-Lincoln substitute to the Restoring Financial Stability Act of 2010. SA 4059 clearly establishes that SA 3739 will not interfere with the established jurisdiction of either FERC or the CFTC with regard to natural gas and electricity.
It appears that all parties agree that SA 3739 should maintain existing regulatory jurisdiction of both FERC and the CFTC over natural gas and electricity. With SA 4059, Senator Blanche Lincoln has proposed an amendment that clearly establishes this jurisdiction retention point. We endorse the approach offered by SA 4059 and encourage you to support it.
Whereas the Senate Energy Committee has also proposed language on this issue, we view that effort as having sufficient ambiguity to allow an interpretation that would permit FERC to abrogate the CFTC’s existing jurisdiction. It is for that reason that we hope that SA 4059 will be accepted as an amendment to SA 3739.
The Senate Agriculture amendment is attached hereto.
Sincerely,