Washington, D.C. - Today, the House Agriculture Committee held a hearing to examine how the tax code impacts agricultural producers. Members of the committee heard from a panel of Members of Congress—including Rep. Kristi Noem (SD-at large) and Rep. Lynn Jenkins (KS-2)—from the House Committee on Ways and Means, the committee charged with crafting our nation's tax code. The Committee also heard from a diverse panel of witnesses including agricultural and tax professionals. "Both the ranking memb...
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Remarks as prepared for delivery: Good morning, and welcome to today’s committee hearing to review the Farm Credit System. Today’s hearing is titled a Review of the Farm Credit System but the objective is twofold. First, we hope to educate ourselves and the public on the history and purpose of the Farm Credit System institutions that provide vital credit to rural America. Since its inception over 100 years ago, the Farm Credit System has never wavered in its mission of providing credit to our ru...
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Washington, D.C. - Today the House Agriculture Committee held a hearing to review the Farm Credit System (FCS). Members of the committee heard from representatives of the Farm Credit Administration as well as representatives from institutions that provide credit. The hearing highlighted the century-long mission of FCS to provide credit to rural communities in both good times and bad, and it reviewed the overall health of the system. Congress established the FCS in the Federal Farm Loan Act of 19...
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Washington, D.C. - Today, the House passed H.R. 238, the Commodity End-User Relief Act, by a vote of 239-182. H.R. 238 is a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), make important regulatory reforms, and most importantly to make important statutory changes to protect end-users and give them access to the tools they need to manage their risks. This bill largely mirrors H.R. 2289 and H.R. 4413, bills to reauthorize the CFTC passed by the House in the 114th an...
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Washington, D.C. - Today, House Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway sent a letter to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Timothy Massad requesting he not move forward on any controversial regulations during the final months of President Obama’s administration. In the letter, he asked Massad to refrain from “pushing through controversial regulations,”; adding, “While we may not agree on which regulations are overreaching or unnecessary, we should agree that the...
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Washington, D.C. - Today, the House Agriculture Committee held a hearing to examine the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) proposed rule, Regulation Automated Trading (Reg AT). Members heard from witnesses with expertise in automated trading and risk management. “Over the past three decades, computers have revolutionized the way we do business – including how trading is conducted in financial markets. Computer networks have slowly replaced traditional trading pits, often eliminating t...
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Remarks as prepared: Good Morning, and welcome to the Committee’s hearing on Regulation Automated Trading. Over the past three decades, our financial markets have been quietly revolutionized by computers. Sometimes called the “electronification” of markets, computer networks have slowly replaced the traditional trading pits. Electronic markets allow computers to seamlessly input orders, giving rise to trading directed and conducted entirely by computer algorithms. Electronic markets and algorith...
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Washington, D.C. - Today, House Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway (R-TX) offered remarks on the floor of the House entering into the Congressional Record a literature review authored by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) Office of the Chief Economist (OCE). The Committee obtained this literature review as part of a routine oversight request following up on a report issued by the CFTC's Office of Inspector General (OIG) in February 2016. The literature review, which...
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Remarks as prepared: Good morning. Thank you for joining the Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit Subcommittee for our last installment of our three-part hearing series examining the implementation of the derivatives market reforms envisioned by world leaders following the 2008 global financial crisis. Today, we will wrap up the series with a focus on clearing and trade execution requirements. Throughout this series, we’ve reiterated many times that our goal is not an indictment of the reform...
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Washington, D.C. - Today, the House Agriculture Committee held a hearing to examine the oil and gas industry’s impact on rural America. While the committee focuses primarily on the economic impacts of agriculture, many rural communities that depend upon agriculture also rely upon the economic activity generated by energy production. Today’s hearing allowed committee Members to focus on upstream oil and gas production and the associated economic effects. Members heard from a panel of witnesses wh...
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