“The leading credit rating agencies, Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch are the financial gatekeepers to the economy,” Representative Henry Waxman (D-Calif) Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said during the hearing on credit rating agencies and the financial crisis.

Jerome Fons, former Executive of Moody’s Corporation, stated that the major rating agencies had missed the impact on subprime mortgages of falling house prices and declining underwriting standards. “A large part of the blame can be placed on the inherent conflicts of interest found in the issuer-pays business model and rating shopping by issuers of structured securities,” Fons said.

Raymond McDaniel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Moody’s Corporation, said that Moody’s published warnings about the increased risks and took action to adjust their assumptions for the portions of the residential mortgage banked securities market that were asked to rate. McDaniel went on to say that they did not anticipate the magnitude and speed of the deterioration in mortgage quality and quickness of restrictive lending.

Waxman concluded with “The credit rating agencies occupy a special place in our financial markets. Millions of investors rely on them for independent, objective assessments. The rating agencies broke this bond of trust, and federal regulators ignored the warning signs and did nothing t protect the public.”

Continuing the hearing process on the financial crisis,the members will hear from federal regulators, including SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, followed by a hearing with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on November 20th.

At a press conference in the Capitol with protesting House Republicans, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich says Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) thinks it’s a better idea to go on a book tour than bring back Congress to solve the energy crisis. (0:34)

 

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At a Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming hearing, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (ADFEC), discussed the future of environmentally sustainable communities by highlighting the developments of Masdar City. (5:10) (more…)

 

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Democratic congressional primary contender Shirley Golub (D-Calif.) sent one of her representatives to the steps of the Capitol building dressed as a chicken to protest the decisions made by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during her time in office. Golub’s goal was to demonstrate the uselessness of electing another “chicken” to the House of Representatives. Golub is running against Pelosi in the upcoming California congressional democratic primary.

Golub’s chicken ranted on the west steps of the Capitol yelling different anti-Pelosi sentiments, such as, “Where are all the congressmen? Did they all fly the coop?” and “Shirley Golub sent me here to demonstrate what its like to send a chicken to Congress.” When the chicken was asked why he was protesting, he said that Pelosi was being a chicken about the war in Iraq and impeachment, and even claimed to be one of her cousins.

Today was a busy day inside the halls of the capital. With today being dedicated as Peace Officers’ Memorial Day, there were many supporters in and outside of the capitol including a memorial gathering outside the capital at one o’clock.

As for legislative business, the House began the day discussing the Iraq and Afghanistan Supplemental Appropriations bill. With members entering and exiting the chamber through out the day, this issue was obviously a hotly contested one. There is a natural tussle of ideas as to whether or not to pull the funding, or to grant more money for our troops. Naturally there is a large number of representatives wanting out of the war, and a way to end the war is by stopping the funding. However, to those that do support the war, their response was that by cutting the funding, this will result in not supplying our soldiers adequately with what they need to fight the battle. So there was a struggle of ideals between the representatives as to what to do. House Democratic leadership wants this wrapped up before Memorial Day, however it seems as if this will be problematic. Speaking of House Democratic Leadership, they were the most harshly criticized group among the arguments given from Republicans. They were continually accused of setting their own agenda and not working together to get legislation passed. (more…)

A nine month, half a million dollar investigation went to committee today under the Select Committee to Investigate the Voting Irregularities of August 2, 2007. The opening statement of the Honorable Bill Delahunt, Chairman, reads, “The purpose of these hearings is to discover what happened on August 2 during Roll Call vote 814…I understand this committee’s mandate is to determine how and why this roll call unfolded in the manner it did. And make recommendations to ensure the integrity of the voting procedures.” (more…)

At a House Science and Technology Committee hearing, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Chairman Senator Bart Gordon (D-TN) discussed the benefits of any technological progress for the whole world, but stressed steps needed to maintain the United States’ share of that research (0:40)

 

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At a House Science and Technology Committee hearing, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates stated that American students will compete with foreign students in the global economy regardless of whether they are allowed to study in the U.S. Rejecting foreign students cannot cut out competition (1:08)

 

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At a House Science and Technology Committee hearing, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates claimed that though U.S. schools and federal research investments provide the best education in the world, immigration policy prevents the best foreign born students (60% of math and science graduates) from working in the U.S. (0:40)

 

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Democratic Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Max Baucus (D-MONT.), Representatives John Spratt (D-SC) and George Miller (D-CA) held a press conference today talking about the Democratic Budget. Sharon Patterson-Stallings, a recipient of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and Carmen Berkley, a recent graduate from Pittsburgh University and Vice-President of the United States Student Association also joined the Senators and the Representatives to show their support to the Budget. This week, the Senate and the House will be debating the Democrats’ plan to cut taxes for the middle class, create jobs at home and strengthen the economy.

The plan is concentrated on education tax cuts, energy tax cuts, Alternative Minimum Tax relief and infrastructure. The objective is to restore fiscal responsible balance by 2012/2013.

This budget promises to secure both complex domestic society and economic leadership, “where Bush has failed” said Chairman Miller. It also promises to help homeowners, by property tax deduction, not only itemizing it, helps soldiers get houses, helps families with children and helps College graduates with their loans.