WASHINGTON – Brooksley Born, former chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, will be the featured speaker tomorrow at a press conference on funding for the CFTC.  In the late 1990s, Born was one of the first public officials to recognize the dangers of unregulated derivatives markets.  Her warnings were largely ignored and over the next several years the growing use of unregulated derivatives contracts became a central cause of the financial crisis.
 
The press conference comes on the heels of the announcement by the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday of two bills which, among other things, will set funding levels for the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.  The amounts included in the bills are significantly below what was sought by the President and what is needed by the agencies to adequately carry out their functions, especially those defined in the 2010 Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
 
This is the latest step in an ongoing battle in the 112th Congress over whether federal agencies will be given adequate funding to regulate financial markets.  Previous coverage of this battle has appeared in the New York Times, Reuters, the Boston Globe, NYT Dealbook, The Hill, National Journal, Bloomberg News and the Financial Times. (Subscriptions are required for some of these publications.)
 
 
WHO:        Brooksley Born, former chairwoman of the CFTC.  Congressman Barney Frank, Congressman Norm Dicks, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, Congressman Ed Markey, Congressman Sam Farr and other leading Members of Congress.  Also appearing will be Gene Guilford, President of the Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association.
WHERE:   House Triangle, between the Capitol and the Longworth House Office Building
DATE:      Friday, June 8, 2012
TIME:      10:00 AM