Looks like they buckled quickly to get the rest of the bill through ASAP.
Pension fund provisions out of House bill
by Doug Halonen
A bill in the House Agriculture Committee that would deal with commodity speculation was dramatically revised today to delete provisions in a previous draft that would have barred pension funds from investing in agricultural and energy commodities and engaging in equity and interest rate swaps, a committee aide said.
“(The) pension provisions are out of the bill,” the aide, who asked not to be identified, wrote in an e-mail response to a P&I Daily inquiry. The aide could not say why the provisions were removed.
Pension industry advocates said that the threat of the bans  included in the draft bill that was being circulated Wednesday  was met by significant opposition from pension fund representatives.
The draft and the revised bill were both sponsored by Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn. The committee will vote on the bill this afternoon, according to the committee.
“It’s going to be a pretty innocuous bill,” said one pension industry lobbyist, who asked not to be identified by name. “We’re not sweating it for sure.”
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