Dorgan Proposes Select Committee on Economic Crisis
In response to the economic crisis, Senator Dorgan, along with John McCain, introduced legislation to establish a Senate Select Committee to investigate the causes of the financial crisis and make recommendations to ensure that a crisis of this magnitude does not happen again.
Dorgan and McCain believe that with more than $9 trillion taxpayer dollars being committed, pledged or loaned so far to try to fix the financial crisis, it is absolutely imperative that the crisis be investigated to learn how the country got to this point and how to restructure the system to prevent it from happening in the future.
The bipartisan Select Committee would be fully independent, have full subpoena power, and have authority to get to the bottom of this crisis.
The Senate has historically appointed select committees to investigate specific subjects for a limited time. For example, The Truman committee investigated fraud, waste and abuse in government contracting during World War II. The Kefauver committee investigated the national expansion of organized crime. The Church committee investigated misconduct by our intelligence agencies.
McCain and Dorgan have a history of successfully investigating abuses, having led the investigation of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. The two now believe a select committee is essential to restore the confidence of the American people in the economy.
