WASHINGTON— U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, released the following statement on the signing of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Fund Management Act (S.409):
“The CFTC’s Office of the Whistleblower is vital to our efforts to uncover and enforce violations of the Commodity Exchange Act. If it were unable to function, our ability to hold violators accountable would be significantly diminished. By addressing the office’s funding shortfall, we can ensure it will be able to continue to process awards for the brave men and women who shed light on violations. I appreciate Senator Grassley’s leadership on this legislation and the issue of whistleblower protection as a whole, as well as his willingness to work with Chairwoman Stabenow and myself to resolve this issue,” Boozman said.
Background
Today, President Joe Biden signed the CFTC Fund Management Act (S. 409) into law.
The bill, which carries no cost to taxpayers, fixes an expected shortfall in the fund that would have rendered the agency unable to staff its whistleblower and customer education and outreach offices.
Introduced by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the bill, upon becoming law, immediately shifts $10 million from the CFTC Customer Protection Fund into a separate, newly created account that would be used to pay for salaries, expenses and customer education activities. This will ensure that the CFTC’s whistleblower program can continue to function even when awards obligated to whistleblowers exceed the program fund’s balance at the time of distribution.
The CFTC would be able to obligate funds from the new account only when the unobligated balance of the CFTC Customer Protection Fund is insufficient to pay non-award expenses.
This new account will sunset on October 1, 2022, and any remaining balance will be returned to the CFTC Customer Protection Fund.
Boozman worked with Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Sen. Grassley to help address an expected funding shortfall for the CFTC’s whistleblower program.