markets that might affect gas prices. that includes the role of traders and speculators. we re going to make sure that nobody is taking advantage of american consumers. attorney general eric holder said that we will be vigilant in monitoring the oil and gas markets for any wrongdoing so that consumers can be confident that they are not paying higher prices as a result of illegal activity. let s bring in the commissioner on the consumer futures trading commission, bart chilton and former north dakota senator byron dorgan. thanks for your time tonight. mr. chilton, what is your role going to be in the president s working group on this? we re one of several agencies, ed, that are on this, but let me be clear. there is lots that we can do absent of this task force and the working group. it s important that we have it for a bunch of reasons but as senator dorgan knows the law they passed last year and as you ve talked about in several weeks, we can implement position limits to lower the
okay. ed, what the republicans put in place was the first part of this. the senate has to do theirs. but you have other pieces of legislation. true. that are going to be introduced. true. the president has introduced a budget. what you have from the republican leadership is the beginning of the framework, the beginning of a conversation. that s where we disagree. wait a minute. you may disagree with our framework, ed, and that s your prerogative. this is how we see this thing getting played out. all right. mr. steele. yes, sir. john boehner and the leadership in the house. yep. they want the senate to pass this bill. of course. that they pass. this is not a start. this is where the republicans are, sir. but this is just as the president wanted the house republicans to go along with this health care bill. that was his bill. he didn t get the vote. we re getting a little bit in denial here. and the senate is not going to give john boehner the vote on
a lot of these investigations are key, ed, that we work together. too often as you know government siloed. this is going to help us out. finally, senator dorgan, this is a pretty big moment for the attorney general is it not? this has got to have some teeth to it. it is. and it needs to have some teeth because as i said, we ve been through this before. we ll go through it again unless and until somebody takes a look at the law that created these this trading which has by the way a provision in it that talks about excess speculation. it was never intended these markets be captured by excess speculation by investment banks and hedge funds and that is exactly what s happened and the same victims, the same perpetrators. investments banks hedge funds and the victims over here are the consumers. bart chilton, byron dorgan, great to have you both with us tonight. thanks so much. if you are a scott walker supporter and trying to get people to sign recall petitions, you want to go where
hard to do that. i believe they re really trying to find that balance between private sector and public sector and, you know, collective bargaining versus not. that s a great point, michael. but what is the balance when you want to fundamentally change collective bargaining in america? that s both what these gentlemen are concerned about and they feel like they ve been under attack as middle class americans. it s not the democrats. it s the republicans. it s a legitimate well, republican leadership that s in place and where these issues are coming up, you know, i can t speak for what s going on specifically in florida and ohio, you know, i ve got my own issues here in maryland with the democratic governor but my point is this. if i could, ed, real quick. yeah. i think it s important that these gentlemen, and they ve made it very clear, their frustration and concern, and i think the governors in both of those states are going to be paying much more attention as we get to futur
not to accept that fact including donald trump who happens to be pulling prolling damn well these days. why is that? well this is what he s talking about. this is his issue, where president obama was born. there s been so much conversation on one network about it, so much talk on talk radio across america about it. now they have got the majority, a strong majority of republicans believing that the president is not a citizen of the united states. can we get to the facts? can we have a conversation about what s real and what s not real? joining me now is michael steele, a former chairman of the republican national committee. mr. steele, good to have you with us tonight. ed, good to be with you, buddy. you re a good sport for coming on and i appreciate it. we had a good time the other night. it was a good exchange. i love the back and forth. what i loved was two guys showing their real passion for the issues of the day. that to me was exciting. we do. and i m looking for you for s