Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., sent Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Christopher Giancarlo and other members of the commission a letter Thursday expressing concerns about the commission’s shutdown on farmers, businesses and consumers.

“While the CFTC is shut down, the markets it regulates are still open,” wrote Stabenow. “I am deeply concerned that the government shutdown will leave our financial markets susceptible to undue risks. Shutting down the CFTC’s robust oversight of our futures and swaps markets endangers the U.S. economy and puts American jobs at risk.”

Stabenow raised a number of questions, including how the shutdown would affect the CFTC’s ability to maintain strong oversight of financial markets and protect consumers from risks such as cybersecurity threats.

“To what extent is the CFTC hindered in its ability to work with financial regulators in other countries during the government shutdown?,” she asked.

“How has the shutdown impacted the CFTC’s ability to continue its work on important cross-border issues, such as clearinghouse oversight and the potential financial market consequences of the ongoing Brexit negotiations in Europe?”

Stabenow also noted, “One of the most important functions of the CFTC is to accept applications from industry to become registered entities, process certifications and requests filed from registered entities regarding approval of new products and rules, and other requests for action from registered entities

“I am concerned that the shutdown has hindered industry from moving forward. How many requests from registered entities (or persons seeking to become registered entities) are on hold or being delayed because of the shutdown?”