Congress plans to take action next week on the final version of a comprehensive financial regulatory reform bill (H.R. 4173) approved by a joint House-Senate conference committee at 5:39 a.m. today (June 25) after a marathon 20-hour negotiating session.
The House is scheduled to go first, considering the bill on the floor on June 29, with the Senate following suit on July 1. While the final text of the bill is not available yet, the NGFA has learned that it does include House-passed language that provides a specific definition of what constitutes a "bona-fide hedge." The NGFA had urged conferees to omit such a "prescriptive" definition from the bill because of concerns it may have "unforeseen and unintended consequences that may "diminish" the ability of commercial hedgers -- including grain, feed and grain processing merchants -- to use futures market instruments to offset market risk as such tools change and evolve over time.
The NGFA will provide a complete analysis of the bill in the July 1 edition of the NGFA Newsletter.