The Commodity Futures Trading Commission moved one step closer to having a full slate of commissioners on July 24, when the Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing to review the nomination of Daniel Berkovitz, a derivatives lawyer who served as the CFTC's general counsel from 2009 to 2013.
The 90-minute hearing gave the members of the committee an opportunity to question Berkovitz about his views on current CFTC issues. No member of the committee expressed any opposition to the nomination, and chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) commented that he will work to achieve confirmation by the full Senate "in the very near future.”
If confirmed, Berkovitz, a Democrat, will fill one of two vacancies at the CFTC. Dawn DeBerry Stump, the other pending nominee, was approved by the committee in August 2017. Nominees are usually paired with a member of the opposite party to ensure bipartisan support in the Senate. The Senate leadership has not yet indicated when a vote on the nominations will be held.
The CFTC has not had a full five-person complement since 2014.
Senate Expectations
During the hearing, the senators concentrated their questioning on the CFTC’s traditional role overseeing agricultural markets. They also asked Berkovitz to comment on two specific areas where the CFTC is working on rulemaking proposals: the de minimis threshold of $8 billion for swap dealer registration and a long-delayed overhaul of position limits on commodity trading. Berkovitz vowed to engage with both issues urgently upon his confirmation.
When asked about his concerns for the future, Berkovitz said he wants the agency to stay “ahead of the curve on cryptocurrency issues.”
Read the opening statements from Chairman Roberts and Ranking Democrat Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). An archived webcast of the hearing can be found here.
Berkovitz is currently a partner at law firm WilmerHale. He served as the CFTC’s general counsel from 2009 to 2013, and prior to the CFTC, he was a senior staff lawyer for the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
Stump, a Republican, worked as a legislative staffer for the Senate Agriculture Committee and the House Agriculture Committee, where she was involved in matters pertaining to the oversight of the CFTC, the reauthorization of the Commodity Exchange Act, and the negotiations for the derivatives title of Dodd Frank.
