CFTC Office of the Chief Economist Act of 2026
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill amends the Commodity Exchange Act to create an Office of the Chief Economist within the CFTC. The Chief Economist would advise the Commission and perform economic analysis, regulatory cost-benefit analysis, and research. The Commission could hire economists, research analysts, data specialists, and specialized futures, swaps, commodities, financial-market, surveillance, data, and IT staff using excepted-service appointment authority without converting their positions out of the competitive service. CFTC cost-benefit provisions would also require coordination with the office and add market liquidity to the list of considerations.
Who Benefits and How
CFTC Commissioners, futures market participants, swaps market participants, economists, research analysts, data specialists, and public commenters benefit from more formal economic analysis and specialized staff capacity inside the CFTC. Regulated entities benefit if rules receive stronger liquidity and cost-benefit review. The office also gives the Commission a clearer internal source of market-structure and data expertise.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The CFTC must establish the office, appoint a Chief Economist, coordinate cost-benefit analysis with that office, and manage specialized hiring authority. CFTC human resources staff must handle excepted-service appointment procedures. Rulemaking staff must incorporate market liquidity and the office's economic input into regulatory analysis.
Key Provisions
- Creates a CFTC Office of the Chief Economist headed by a Chief Economist.
- Assigns economic analysis, regulatory cost-benefit analysis, and research functions to the office.
- Authorizes specialized hiring for economists, research analysts, data specialists, and market-structure experts.
- Requires CFTC cost-benefit work to coordinate with the office and consider market liquidity.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Establishes a CFTC Office of the Chief Economist, gives it economic analysis, cost-benefit, and research functions, allows specialized excepted-service hiring for economists and data specialists, and requires CFTC cost-benefit work to coordinate with the office while adding market liquidity as a consideration.
Key Policy Areas
financial_services, agency_operations, commodities
Primary Purpose
Establishes a CFTC Office of the Chief Economist, gives it economic analysis, cost-benefit, and research functions, allows specialized excepted-service hiring for economists and data specialists, and requires CFTC cost-benefit work to coordinate with the office while adding market liquidity as a consideration.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- CFTC Commissioners
- Futures market participants
- Swaps market participants
- Economists
- Data specialists
Identified Costs
- CFTC
- Chief Economist
- CFTC human resources staff
- Rulemaking staff
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and …
Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.
Introduced in House
Mr. Bresnahan (for himself and Mrs. McClain Delaney) introduced the …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
CFTC, Office of the Chief Economist
Positive-direction: Office of the Chief Economist
Negative-direction: CFTC
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "agencies"
- → ['CFTC']
- "beneficiaries"
- → ['Economists', 'Data specialists', 'Futures market participants']
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology