East meets Midwest in regulatory merger fight

T h e L e g is la tive N e w s - D a ilyfro m C o n g re s s io n a l Q u a rte rlyL a w m a k e r s S e t S i g h t s o n W a rF u n d sD e fe n s e a ppro pria to rsw a n t to s h ift mo n e y fro mIra qto o th e rmilita ry n e e dsBy J OSH ROGINAN D D AVID C L ARKEC QST AF F WRIT ERSSomeleading law-makers want to shiftbillions of defense dol-lars away from Iraq inthe next supplementalspending billand de-vote them to other mili-tary priorities.The debate over thebill,set for later thisonth,is also shaping-P amid aflurry of pro-posals from lawmakers Defenseappropriators want/to convincethe administration to lookbeyondwho see the emergency Iraq/ M urtha said. Theysubmitted their plans to Houseleaders this week.appropriationsmeasureasavehicle for ahost of non-military spend-ingneeds and war policy provisions.Although total military spendingin thebill, which isstill indraft form, will be nearthe $102.5 billion the Pentagon says itneeds for the remainder of fiscal 2008, de-fense appropriators would move between$8billion and $9billion of that total towardtheir own priorities, which focus on forcemodernization and facilities at home."We're trying to convince the adminis-tration to look beyond Iraq," said J ohn P.M urtha, D-Pa., chairman of the HouseWar continued onpage 6E a s t M e e t s M i d w e s ti n R e g u l a t o r yM e r g e rF i g h tproposed by Treasury Secretary Henry M .Paulson J r., the center of gravity would shiftfor the world's most powerfulfutures mar-ket, the Chicago M ercantile Exchange.Such achange is unlikely to be enactedquickly, and the congressional fight prob-ably will not begin in earnest until nextyear. But just the possibility has rattled "theM ere" and its boosters.Would the SEC bring more regulation?Would business be disruptedduring ape-riod of transition? Chicago doesn't want tofind out, with the currentsystem being solarge and, it thinks, sosuccessful.Over the past six years, the number ofcontracts traded on the exchange has goneRegulationcontinued onpage 10By C AT HARIN E RIC HERT ,C Q ST AF F WRIT ERSens. Richard J . Durbin and Charles E.Schumer are both members of the Demo-cratic leadership. They're both senior sena-tors fromtheir home states. They even haveamutuallove of Chinese food, which, onmany nights, they eat together as room-mates intheir Capitol Hill townhouse.Now they're on opposite sides of whatpromises tobecome anextensive battle pit-'ng Wall Street against the financialpow-erhouse of the M idwest.The issue: whethertwo regulatory bod-ies should be forced to marry.If theCommodity Futures Trading Com-mission (CFTC) and the Securities andExchange Commission (SEC) merge, asAgriculture 7F a r m fi n a n ci n gRa n g e l w a n ts a s s u ra n ce so n n u tritio n fu n din gin fa rm le g is la tio n GOP pro te s t o n ju dg e s , p. 5 T h e w e e k a h e a d, p.27PUL SE OFCONGR E S SNEWRUL ESfor House M embers and Pages:K eepIt Simple, Official and PublicShun one-on-one situations. M entorat arm's length. Go easy on the gifts.The House Page Board issued thoseand other new guidelines after strug-gling for months to agree on the bestway to maintain ameaningfulprogramfor the teens inblue blazers while pre-venting situations like those that havegotten some membersof Congress inhot water.The "Guidelines for Communicationand Interactions with House Pages"specify that members,officers and staffshould not givepages gifts worth morethan $50, and they should not spendtime alone with anyindividual page.M embers, many of whom saw theguidelines for the first time Thursdayin a"Dear Colleague" letter signed byall eight members of the Page Board,are encouraged to mentorpages andto "host or take part in Page Programfunctions."However, members are warnedagainst "participation in anyoff-cam-pus activitiesinvolving a page" thatare not formally organized bythe pageprogram.The letter said the new guidelineswere part of an effort to improve "theoverall effectivenessof the program."- Molly K. HooperPeople: C h a n g e s in We lle r's o ffice ,p.13Vo l u m e 44, Nu m be r 43260414 MN PD HD D C G20J OE KEEN ANSEN AT E PRESS GAL L ERYS316 SEN AT E RAD IO T V GAL L ERYWASHIN GT ON D C 20510Pa g e 10 C Q T o da y, F rida y, April 4,2008R e g u l a t i o n continued from page 1from 2.2 million to 14 million daily, and itacquiredits largest competitor, the Chi-cago Board of Trade.When it comes tocommodities, "the world looks to Chicago,it does not look to ewYork," said one lob-byist involved inthe issue.Improvement or Impairment?In addition to being in the Democraticleadership and the inner circle of M ajorityL eaderHarry Reid, D-Nev.,DurbinandSchumer have legislative positions that canbe used to advance their causes.Schumer,of New York, chairs the J ointEconomic Committee, aplatform that letshimsummon the attention of financial deci-sionmakers and order up studies toexaminePaulson's proposal inextensive detail.Durbin, of Illinois, chairs the Appro-priationspanel that handles fundingforthe SEC and the CFTC.A subcommitteechairmancan't Single-handedly thwartaregulatory marriage, but he would be aninfluential voice when it is time to decidewhether to act or keep the status quo.The equities industryofWall Street gener-allysupports aregulatory marriage asawaytomakeitsbusiness more competitive globally.Chicago's futures traders and their regula-torsarewary, sayingconsolidation could hurtF OR E IGN POL ICYSchumer, left, and Durbin, who see eyeto eyeon many issues, may go head to head onthe merger proposal.their market. 'We shouldn't be about trying said Chicago has reasonto worry abouttocure what isn't sick," saidCFTC Commis- disrupting business asusual. "Youcan't un-sioner Bart Chilton. derestimate how important [the M ercan-Countered TimRyanof the Securities In- tile Exchange] isto the Chicago economy,"dustry and Financial M arkets Association: said Ruder, now alaw professorat North-"It istime to modernize. Our present regu- western University in Illinois.latory framework was born of Depression- 'Their fortune has ahuge effect onalot0,era events and is not well suited for today's people," agreed J oseph M inarik, vicepresi-environment, where billions of dollars race dent for the Committeefor Economic De-across the globe with the click of amouse." velopment, aneconomic think tank.Former SECChairman David Ruder The exchange demonstrated its cloutwhen Ruder offered aplan for consolida-tion in the mid-1980s.The exchange "lob-bied the banking committees, they lobbiedthe agriculture committeesand did soveryvigorously," he said. "It became sobitter."Ultimately, he settled for streamliningthe agencies' overlappingresponsibilitiesand for implementing new rules that thetwo regulatorsstill follow. L ater, the com-moditiesmarket and the equities marketclashed on another front.Futures traders in Chicago claimed thatWallStreet's so-calledover-the-counterderivatives trading was illegal. Wall Streetresisted, and won. The CFTCM oderniza-tion Act of 2000 (PL 106-554) recognizedthose trades aslegal.The next round in the battle for prima-cy over commodities trading may not befought until next year, assuch acomplicat-ed issue isunlikely to command Congress s - ,attention in acampaign year.But no one involved doubts that a biglobbying battle looms."There's much more force behind thissuggestion this time," Ruder said. "I don'tthink it's going away." Co bu r n Pr e p a r e s t oB l o ck Gl o ba lA IDS L e g i s l a t i o nBy AD AM GRAHAM- SIL VERMAN , C QST AF F WRIT ERWith twoversions of global AIDS legisla-tion ready for the Senate floor, TomCoburnisnotifYingcolleagues about his objectionsto both and seeks their support.The bills "contain dramatic policy rever-sals coupled with irresponsible spendinglevels," Coburn, R-Okla.,said in a letterthat he plans to send to M inority L eaderM itch M cConnell, R-K y. "This combina-tion prevents our support for reauthori-zation of the program that, until now, hasbeen arare model of foreign aid success."The letter, which says Coburn mightblock any attempt to call up either bill, isstill circulating among senators.The bills awaiting possible Senate actionwould authorize$50 billion over the nextfiveyears for global AIDS programs. TheSenate Foreign Relations panelapprovedone (S 2731) in M arch; the House passedthe other (HR 5501) on April 2, 308-116."I think it's the height of irresponsibilityinthe middle of awar and surging debts forustobe dramatically increasing the cost andthe scope of theprogram," saidJ imDeM int,R-S.G, who signed onto Coburn's letter.The 2003 global AIDS law,which expiresthis year, authorized $15billion over itsfirstfive years. President Bush had called for$30 billion for the new law, but the WhiteHouse helped negotiate compromise leg-islation at the $50 billion level."The Democrats in the House forcedthe president to go up, to force us to stopit, which gives them something to hollerabout," DeM int said.CoburnspokesmanJ ohn Hart stressedthat the senator is committed to passing areauthorization of the program.A congressional aide said the letter'sbackers are more concernedwith alack ofaccountability and "mission creep" than thetotal spending level. "What's driving this isnot aknee-jerkopposition to foreign aid,"the aide said.