Chairman Frank Lucas of Oklahoma called the hearing to push four bills that would weaken safeguards in Dodd-Frank, noting that he believed regulators would fail in implementing various rules and wanted to put forth corrective legislation.

The bills, among other things, would exempt swap dealers from having to put up collateral for trades with commercial firms; broaden the exemption so fewer large traders would be classified as swap dealers; and lessen restrictions for swap-execution facilities that are designed to be an alternative to exchanges.

But ranking Democrat Collin Peterson said the bills had no value because the Senate was not going to pass any Dodd/Frank related legislation in the Congress this session. He also said that just the existence of these bills in the House brought uncertainty to an industry that wants specific rules.

Furthermore, Peterson asked Chairman Lucas to convene an additional hearing with banking regulators besides the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Since many of these other agencies will be promulgating regulations that may affect the agricultural industry, Peterson said it would be wiser to discuss pending issues, rather than moving new legislation. He said he had made a mistake in supporting the passage Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 and would be more cautious about market reform in the future.

A single panel of agriculture industry witnesses was invited to testify on any part of the proposed legislation that suited their interests.