Tuesday
Mar032009
McCain and Dorgan: What Just Happened?
Tuesday, March 3, 2009 at 5:16PM
Coffee Brown, University of New Mexico,Talk Radio News
Faced with more than nine billion dollars in bailout commitments, eight billion in stock losses, six trillion in lost home values, five million jobs lost, and three million foreclosed mortgages in 2008, Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) want to know what happened?
The McCain Dorgan bill calls for a two-year bipartisan select Senate committee to examine the causes for the current economic crisis. The committee would function independently and would have subpoena power, but would not be conducting a criminal investigation.
“We must understand the causes of the crisis and implement systematic and institutional reforms, quickly and comprehensively,” said McCain.
Select committees are not standing entities, but exist for a specific purpose and duration. This could sometimes be construed to signal that an investigation is being undertaken for suspected wrongdoing. It was made clear by both Dorgan and McCain that this committee’s purpose would be to understand, rather than prosecute, the actions of the financial system leading to and surrounding the meltdown.
Faced with more than nine billion dollars in bailout commitments, eight billion in stock losses, six trillion in lost home values, five million jobs lost, and three million foreclosed mortgages in 2008, Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) want to know what happened?
The McCain Dorgan bill calls for a two-year bipartisan select Senate committee to examine the causes for the current economic crisis. The committee would function independently and would have subpoena power, but would not be conducting a criminal investigation.
“We must understand the causes of the crisis and implement systematic and institutional reforms, quickly and comprehensively,” said McCain.
Select committees are not standing entities, but exist for a specific purpose and duration. This could sometimes be construed to signal that an investigation is being undertaken for suspected wrongdoing. It was made clear by both Dorgan and McCain that this committee’s purpose would be to understand, rather than prosecute, the actions of the financial system leading to and surrounding the meltdown.