“WASHINGTON—Joining the escalating debate over rising gasoline prices and a rush by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to assign blame for steeper fuel costs, a handful of Senate Democrats unveiled a bill Wednesday that would limit speculative trading in the oil markets.”

“The bill, written by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and five Democrats, would force regulators to pass rules within 14 days to reduce speculative trading in the oil markets. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is in the process of developing such limits, but its rules won’t be finalized for several more months.”

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“Testifying at the same hearing, an advocate for oil-market changes said Congress should ban commodity-index funds, a financial instrument that tracks commodity futures. “The effect of this excess speculation is dramatic and is seriously damaging the commodity markets,” said Better Markets President Dennis Kelleher.”

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Read full Wall Street Journal article here.