“We are disappointed that the House of Representatives was unable to take even this modest first step toward curbing the excessive speculation that has contributed to the massive run-up in oil prices,” said ATA President and CEO James C. May in commenting on the failure of the House of Representatives to pass HR-6604, the Commodity Markets Transparency and Accountability Act. “Unfortunately, this signals to the speculator community that more profits can still be leveraged at the expense of the American consumer. Just today, we are seeing another example of a self-serving ‘expert prediction’ of $150 per barrel oil, followed by a substantial price spike.” ATA strongly supported firm position limits for energy commodities in the over-the-counter (OTC) market. The OTC position limits in this bill were discretionary, but should have been mandatory.