[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 23754]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             CREDIT RATING

  (Ms. SPEIER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, more than one in 10 of fellow Californians 
is out of work. This is due in part to decisions made 3,000 miles away 
by analysts at America's credit rating agencies ranking funds at AIG 
and Lehman Brothers as AA or AAA one day, only to have these companies 
bankrupt the next.
  Last week at the Financial Services Committee hearing, I asked the 
executives of the rating agencies why they kept Lehman Brothers so 
highly rated when there were plenty of warning signs they were in 
trouble. The answer I got was astounding. They kept Lehman highly rated 
because they assumed the government would bail it out. I then asked how 
many of these analysts who base these decisions on assumptions rather 
than evidence lost their jobs. Again, the answer was unfathomable: 
none, not one.
  Mr. Speaker, I did not come down to the floor this morning to seek 
retribution, but rather some common sense. This situation underscores 
the urgent need to enact strong financial regulatory reform and 
specifically make the rating agencies accountable for their decisions.
  When the decisions of a few in a Manhattan skyscraper affect the 
livelihoods of hardworking Americans all across our country, there must 
be accountability.

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