US House panel says will draft futures market bill

WASHINGTON, July 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. House Agriculture Committee scheduled a bill-drafting session for Thursday to work on a bill that may propose tighter position limits in U.S. futures markets.

Details of "the Commodity Markets Transparency and Accountability Act" were not immediately available.

Chairman Collin Peterson said on July 11 that stronger position limits were the best response to worries that speculators were driving up the prices of oil and other commodities.

The Minnesota Democrat said on Wednesday that an agreement was near on contents of the bill. Late on Wednesday, the bill-drafting session was slated for Thursday afternoon.

Various ideas have been suggested for improving the work of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates the futures markets, and to revise the operations of the market. The proposals range from expanding CFTC staffing to requiring overseas markets to match U.S. standards or to require larger "margin" payments for futures contracts. (Reporting by Charles Abbott, editing by Matthew Lewis)