In addition to hearings previously announced by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is announcing that the Committee will hold a series of five hearings on Wall Street problems in October.

In the publicly released statement, Waxman says, "This financial crisis has shaken the global economy.  Congress cannot wait until a new administration arrives in January to examine what went wrong and who should be held accountable.”

The hearings, from the Committee release:

October 16, 2008:  The Regulation of Hedge Funds

Five fund managers who earned over $1 billion last year have been invited to testify about the role of hedge funds in the financial markets and their regulatory and tax status.  The five witnesses are John Alfred Paulson, President, Paulson & Co., Inc.; George Soros, Chairman, Soros Fund Management LLC; Philip A. Falcone; Senior Managing Director, Harbinger Capital Partners; James Simons, Director, Renaissance Technologies LLC; and Kenneth C. Griffin, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Citadel Investment Group.

 

October 17, 2008:  The Breakdown of Credit Rating Agencies

The CEOs of the nation’s three largest credit rating agencies have been invited to testify about the role of the credit rating agencies in the financial excesses on Wall Street.  The three witnesses are Deven Sharma, President, Standard & Poor’s; Raymond W. McDaniel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Moody’s Corporation; and Stephen Joynt, President and Chief Executive Officer, Fitch Ratings.

 

October 23, 2008:  The Role of Federal Regulators

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, former Treasury Secretary John Snow, and current SEC Chairman Christopher Cox have been invited to testify about the role and responsibility of federal regulators in the Wall Street financial crisis.