Financial Crisis Commission is welcome

What caused America’s financial meltdown?

The causes are many, and the chances are good that among them are actions by Congress. That’s why an independent bipartisan commission always was the best choice for uncovering the roots of the breakdown.

Grand Forks Herald — Jun 03, 2009

Kudos to Sens. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., for proposing just that.

As the senators describe elsewhere on this page, the Financial Crisis Commission will be modeled on the successful 9-11 Commission. That commission’s final report was so influential that Hollywood made a TV movie out of it, and Congress adopted many of the commission’s recommendations.

The financial crisis isn’t as violent as the 9-11 attacks, but it’s proving to be as influential on American life. So, while the commission’s work likely won’t be dramatized on the small screen, it’s sure to result in reforms, regulations and other changes geared at making sure the crisis doesn’t happen again.

The commission’s work even could result in some people going to jail. As the senators note, the commission will have the authority to refer any evidence of lawbreaking to law enforcement agencies.

And, it’ll have the power to subpoena testimony, a vital asset in gathering information.

In making their proposal, the senators took care to make sure the commission would win bipartisan support. For example, before the commission can issue a subpoena, at least one member appointed by the Senate or House minority leader must consent. Republicans get a veto, in other words, thus assuring that the commission won’t function as a majority-driven kangaroo court.

Those and other safeguards got the commission through the Senate overwhelmingly and the House by a vote of 367 to 59.

The next test will come when the House and Senate leadership names the commission members.

The House speaker and Senate majority leader will name six members and designate the chairman, while the House and Senate minority leaders will name four members and designate the vice chairman.

Members of Congress and government employees can’t serve on the commission. So, “congressional leadership should be careful in its selection process, opting for people with expertise in those industries who are not, and have not been, associated in any fashion with any of the financial or lending institutions that already have been identified as part of the problem, or reasonably might be assumed to have been a part of those unfortunate circumstances,” the Athens Banner-Herald in Athens, Ga., editorialized.

That’s good advice. Encouragingly, the commission’s designers so far have taken that kind of sensible counsel to heart. Now they should do so again.

— Tom Dennis for the Herald