WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), ranking member on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, today issued the following statement regarding the committee approval for Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) nominees J. Christopher Giancarlo of New Jersey, Timothy G. Massad of Connecticut and Sharon Y. Bowen of New York. The three nominations were cleared Tuesday by the committee and are now available for consideration by the Senate.
“All three nominees are accomplished and skilled lawyers with respectable resumes. However, I hope that before Senators are asked to vote to confirm Mr. Massad and Ms. Bowen that the nominees will provide stronger assurances that their lack of experience in agriculture or futures markets will not hinder their ability to address the complex issues before the Commission. Ms. Bowen’s role in denying compensation to victims of the Stanford Ponzi scheme in which investors in Mississippi and across the country lost billions of dollars continues to concern me. Finally, I will support Mr. Giancarlo’s confirmation because of his expertise in swaps markets, which are important to U.S. agriculture.”
“I look forward to working with Chairwoman Stabenow and our counterparts in the House of Representatives to deal with the lack of certainty that exists for those who utilize commodities markets and to address concerns with Dodd-Frank implementation at the CFTC. The CFTC needs a full complement of commissioners, but Congress also has a role in clarifying issues that are important to end users and others who continue to ask for certainty.”
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