Monday, September 21, 2009

Panel Probing Crisis Adds to Role


WASHINGTON -- Members of a bipartisan federal panel investigating the financial crisis made clear at their first meeting Thursday that they plan to work closely with congressional leaders to help shape pending overhauls of financial rules.
View Full ImageBloomberg News
Former Sen. Bob Graham, left, and Phil Angelides leave a meeting of the commission probing the financial crisis in Washington on Thursday.

That could help speed the balky legislative process. But it could also complicate the commission's already tricky task of maintaining internal harmony, given the partisan divides that could emerge over the legislation -- and the number of political figures among the blue-ribbon panel's membership.
The 10-member commission, created by Congress earlier this year, is headed by Phil Angelides, a former California state treasurer and one-time Democratic gubernatorial candidate, and its vice chairman is former House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas, a sometimes-combative conservative Republican. Other members include a Democratic former U.S. senator, Bob Graham of Florida, as well as Keith Hennessey, a top economic adviser to former President George W. Bush, and Doug Holtz-Eakin, a top economic strategist for 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain.


Posted by: Kelsey Hoffman

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