[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 58 (Tuesday, April 21, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H4553]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 ESTABLISHING A SELECT COMMITTEE TO EXAMINE THE CAUSES OF THE CURRENT 
                            FINANCIAL CRISIS

  (Mr. DINGELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, today I've introduced legislation 
establishing a select committee to examine the causes of the current 
financial crisis; most certainly, serious financial and other 
misbehavior on Wall Street and within the banking community. It is 
modeled on the Pecora Commission, which held hearings in 1932 and 1933 
to investigate the roots of the Great Depression, whose seriousness is 
only slightly greater than that which we now confront.
  As Ferdinand Pecora said of the Great Depression's source, he said, 
``Legal chicanery and pitch darkness were the banker's stoutest 
allies.'' Let us take heed of Pecora's words and support this 
resolution which will foster a coordinated approach among the several 
committees of jurisdiction in this matter, and to help us remedy and 
prevent the unsavory practices that have led our Nation to an economic 
precipice of gargantuan proportions.

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