WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement today after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission made a second attempt to curb speculation by traders in oil and certain other commodities:

“The good news is that the CFTC has finally proposed a new rule to limit the amount of oil that Wall Street speculators can trade on the energy futures market.  The bad news is that it will take several more months, if not longer, before this rule takes effect.  Adding insult to injury, the proposed rule is so weak that one Wall Street oil speculator could control 25 percent of the market without exceeding the position limits. 

“I am going to do everything that I can to make sure that the final rule will be strong enough to eliminate excessive oil speculation and make sure that the price of gasoline and heating oil are based on the fundamentals of supply and demand.  By bidding up oil prices in the futures market, Wall Street oil speculators have caused horrendous economic pain to millions of Americans who are forced to pay more for gasoline.”