Quote from piezoe:
I would love to know who was responsible for inserting that deregulation stuff into the omnibus bill.
Try
Phil Gramm, husband of Wendy Gramm, chairwoman of the CFTC and and REPUBLICAN senator from Texas ( 1985-2002).
"Five weeks after she resigned from head of the CFTC, Enron appointed Mrs. Gramm to its Board of Directors, where she served on the Board's Audit Committee, in charge of verifying Enron's accounting procedures and other detailed financial information.
Enron spent $3.45 million in lobbying expenses in 1999 and 2000 to deregulate the trading of energy futures, among other issues.
In December 2000,
Phil Gramm helped muscle a bill through Congress without a committee hearing that deregulated energy commodity trading. This act allowed Enron to operate an unregulated power auction -- EnronOnline -- that quickly gained control over a significant share of California's electricity and natural gas market.
Phil Gramm's legislation was in conflict with the explicit recommendations of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets, which is composed of representatives from the Department of Treasury, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The Working group expressly recommended against deregulating energy commodity trading because the traders would be in strong positions to manipulate prices and supply."