The Senate Agriculture Committee today approved President Barack Obama’s nominees to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said the committee plans to write a bill that would reauthorize the commission, with some changes.

The committee approved the nominations of Timothy Massad to serve as CFTC chairman, and Christopher Giancarlo and Sharon Bowen to serve as commissioners.

The only vote against the nominations came from Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., Stabenow told the North American Agricultural Journalists.

Stabenow also told the agricultural journalists that she wants to write a reauthorization of the bill that includes consumer protections, end-user protections and possibly an insurance fund for people and companies that put their money in the hands of futures dealer such as those at the Securities Exchange Commission and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, and with criminal liability.

The insurance and criminal liability issues have arisen after businesses including farms put money in the hands of MF Global, which did not segregate it properly from its own funds. MF Global went bankrupt and it has taken years for those people to get their money back.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said today that he believed the Senate would favor a simple one-line reauthorization that would simply extend the life of the commission, but Stabenow said she had not had a chance to explain her plans to Lucas.

Stabenow said she would like to finish the bill this year, but acknowledged that as the year progresses, Senate floor time will be limited.