Democrat hits road to fight oil speculators
The Columbus Dispatch – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and other Democrats aren’t waiting any longer for a federal commission to restrict oil speculators from driving up the price of gasoline.
Brown, up for re-election in November, announced in Columbus yesterday that he is a co-sponsor of legislation that would force the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to act.
“We know to expect gas prices to go up in the summer,” Brown said while standing in the parking lot of a Shell station in German Village. “But gas prices shouldn’t be going up like they are now, as dramatically as they are.”
Brown and 70 other lawmakers wrote to the commission this month, urging that it “do what the law mandates and end excessive oil speculation once and for all.”
Now, they’re pushing for a proposal, introduced this week, to implement the law.
Under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial-overhaul law, the commission has the authority to impose limits on speculation in the energy-futures market. While the commission has passed rules, they won’t take effect until the commission issues more rules, Brown said.
