The House Committee on Agriculture took up several pieces of bipartisan legislation that would help prevent unnecessary and harmful regulation of derivatives end-users – and ensure the original intent of Congress is upheld. There has been growing concern in the end-user community that proposed regulations to implement the Dodd-Frank bill could go beyond the intent of Congress and prove damaging to economic growth and U.S. competitiveness.

The bills include: H.R. 2682, the Business Mitigation and Price Stabilization Act; H.R. 2779, to exempt inter-affiliate swaps from certain regulatory requirements;  H.R. 3527, Protecting Main Street End-Users from Excessive Regulation; H.R. 1840, requiring the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to include a cost-benefit analysis of their regulations, and; H.R. 2586, the Swap Execution Facility Clarification Act.  Each offer solutions that would help prevent unnecessary and harmful regulation of derivatives end-users. The NAM stands in strong support of all of them.

Fortunately the bills passed out of committee with bipartisan support  and hopefully the momentum necessary to be on the house floor soon. These bills would ensure that any negative impacts of the Dodd-Frank implementation on end-users can be mitigated.