Before the Congressional recess, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) delivered remarks on agricultural oversight and budget legislation during a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Erin, Senator from Mexico, thank you very much. Yes, absolutely. Thank you. Senator Ernst.
00:06Thank you, Madam Chair and of course Ranking Member Bozeman. It's nice to see you again,
00:11Chairman Benham. Thanks so much for being with us. The last couple of weeks I've been able
00:16to visit all across Iowa and hear from my folks as I continue my river-to-river tour.
00:23And as I've mentioned here before, one question that continues to come to me is when will Congress
00:29come together and pass a farm bill? So I hope we get around to that. Our farmers and rural
00:36communities really deserve a five-year piece of legislation that will provide us with some
00:41certainty and addresses the needs of rural America. And I do applaud the House for coming
00:46together in a bipartisan way. Chairman G.T. Thompson did a great job there in the House
00:53Ag Committee and I do hope that we can come together here in the Senate and have a bipartisan
00:58bill as well. But since we're here, we'll get back to the subject at hand. And Chairman Benham,
01:06as you know, the Supreme Court had recently ended its term and it handed down a number of decisions
01:11potentially impacting your agency's functions. So the Loper and Bright v. Raimondo ruling
01:19rightfully overruled the doctrine of Chevron deference, while S.E.C. v. Jarchese said the
01:27Seventh Amendment entitles the defendant to a jury trial when the S.E.C. seeks civil penalties
01:33for securities fraud. So how does the agency plan to apply the Supreme Court's decision
01:40reversing Chevron? Thanks, Senator, for the question. Certainly, we continue to look at
01:46the decision and understand the importance of it and we will certainly do everything to comply
01:52with the decision. I would say, you know, if you look at the Commodity Exchange Act and the role
01:56of this committee in Congress overall vis-a-vis the agency, there is a fair amount of discretion
02:02given to the agency in certain areas. There are certainly other areas that is more prescriptive
02:06that the agency needs to do something very clearly and directly. But we will review our rules. We
02:12will make sure that it is letter of the law interpretation where it demands that, but also
02:18if there is discretion, which in many circumstances it is important that an agency like the CFTC have
02:23some discretion because markets evolve. Markets change and it is important, I think, an agency
02:27be able to be nimble to an extent to evolve with markets at a quicker clip than perhaps Congress.
02:34So we are going to review our rules, we are going to review the decision, and we are going to ensure
02:37compliance with the decision. Do you know, Chairman, approximately how many rulemakings
02:42would be impacted by that ruling? So not at this moment, given the sort of recent decision
02:49of LOPER. We are continuing to review the decision, see how it applies to us, but certainly after we
02:54review it, I am happy to get back to you and your staff and let you know if there is any direct
02:58impact or indirect impact for that matter. And then are there rulemakings that were
03:05subject to litigation where you use Chevron deference as an argument? Well, we do have,
03:11and I don't want to get too far into it right now, but we do have open litigation on one matter in
03:16two different courts, and I do think the defendant did file a motion, you know, citing the LOPER
03:22decision as a reason why it should be dismissed. But again, there is, in that particular case,
03:27there is a fair amount of discretion that we think would allow us to move forward with it.
03:30Okay. So that one is being revisited. Of course.
03:33Okay. Okay. Very good. No, I appreciate that. So in the testimony that you had shared with us,
03:39you mentioned that the CFTC has brought over 135 digital commodity cases resulting in
03:45billions in penalties and restitution. And so with the Jarchese ruling,
03:52are you then as well conducting a review of the ongoing civil enforcement?
03:58Yes. The Jarsky decision obviously has an impact. There are multiple elements to that decision
04:04around administrative law judges, but also administrative proceedings. The administrative
04:08law judge, better known as an ALJ, doesn't necessarily apply to us. We haven't really
04:12instituted an ALJ at the agency for quite some time. But in terms of administrative proceedings,
04:17we're reviewing the ruling right now and the decision and making sure that as we move forward
04:22with our enforcement docket, it complies with the decision.
04:24Sure. And I know it only applied to the SEC, but will you commit to proactively giving defendants
04:31before the CFTC then a jury trial when you're seeking civil penalties and restitution?
04:37Absolutely.
04:38Okay. Well, I really appreciate it. I'm a little running out of time, I guess,
04:44but I appreciate your forthright leadership as well on these issues. I truly appreciate
04:50you coming in front of us today. Thank you, Chairman.
04:53Thank you, Chairwoman.
04:55Thank you very much. Let me also mention, I am anxious to get a bipartisan farm bill done,
05:00and would certainly welcome anything Senator Bozeman wants to say, but we have a section
05:05by section bill that I've put out that is the English language version of the text
05:17that will be given to CBO. But it's a full section by section bill. I would welcome
05:23your engagement and involvement because we need to be negotiating this and getting it done.
05:31And while I met with the Chairman as early as this week in the House and appreciate his work
05:36and so on, I did indicate that his bill shortchanges our commodities in the Midwest,
05:42which I've also shared with you. So we've got some work to do together to be able to do something
05:48that will more accurately reflect the interests and states of the members of the committee. And
05:53I'm anxious to do that as soon as possible. So thank you.