Just jumping in quick with a reminder that there's some action in Congress today. Just a pro forma session in the Senate today. Looks like today's session might be the critical sixth one since someone (BunningBunningBunningBunningBunning!) put a hold on the nomination of TARP IG Neil Barofsky, meaning that certain someone (BunningBunningBunningBunningBunning!) would either have to drop the hold or fess up.
In committee action, today's the day of the Judiciary Committee field hearing I originally wrote about last Wednesday. The one in St. Albans, VT. That's really reaching for material, isn't it? Writing for a second time about a Judiciary Committee field hearing on rural, drug-related crime? Well, look, if you're in the area and you want to see what it's all about, be at St. Albans City Hall, 100 North Main Street at 10 a.m. That's about all there is left to say about that one.
A hearing that'll probably draw more eyes today is the House Financial Services Committee hearing on the auto industry bailout. If you caught the Senate hearing yesterday, then you'll want to go for the sweep and tell your grandkids you were there for all the action. Be there live at 9:30 a.m., 2128 Rayburn House Office Building, catch it on C-SPAN, or watch the commitee's webcast from their site.
Witness List & Prepared Testimony:
Panel 1
* Mr. G. Richard Wagoner, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, General Motors Corporation
* Mr. Robert Nardelli, Chief Executive Officer, Chrysler, LLC.
* Mr. Alan Mulally, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ford Motor Company
* Mr. Ron Gettelfinger, President, United Auto Workers
Panel 2
* The Honorable Gene Dodaro, Acting Comptroller General, U.S. Government Accountability Office
* The Honorable Felix G. Rohatyn, FGR Associates, LLC
* Professor Edward Altman, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University
* Mr. David Friedman, Research Director, Clean Vehicles Program,
Union of Concerned Scientists
* Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director, The Earth Institute; Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development and Professor of Health Policy and Management, Columbia University
A few new faces since yesterday's Senate hearing on the subject, though I'm glad to see Dodaro back today. I liked his style.
Also happening today, a hearing of the Joint Economic Committee. Did you know there were such things? Joint committees? (There are four: the Joint Committees on Printing, on the Library, on Taxation, and the JEC.) A lot of people forget about those, because they don't actually do any legislating. They just hold hearings and conduct research and oversight. Oversight in the sense that Senator Schumer expressed it at yesterday's bailout hearings, that is, meaning that they can look at a problem and say, "Hey, there it is!" but not actually do anything about it. That's particularly appropriate since Schumer's actually on the Joint Economic Committee.
Their subject today:
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer and Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Chairman and Vice-Chair of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) respectively, will hold a hearing on the newly released Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) monthly employment figures with Commissioner Keith Hall on Friday, December 5, 2008 at 9:30 am in Room 106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Rep. Maloney will preside over the hearing, entitled "The Employment Situation: November 2008." In the wake of ten straight months of job losses, Dr. Hall will assess the recent developments in the labor market.
And their witness? Keith Hall, Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Woohoo! Awesome!