Financial crisis panel delays report until January
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The panel set up by Congress to investigate the causes of the financial crisis said Wednesday it won’t be able to complete its report by the Dec. 15 deadline, and voted to delay delivery of its findings until sometime in January.
The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, chaired by former California Treasurer Phil Angelides, agreed by a majority vote to take more time on the complex report, the panel said.
‘The additional time will allow the Commission to produce and disseminate a report which best serves the public interest and more fully informs the President, the Congress and the American people about the facts and causes of the crisis,’ said a news release from the commission.
The 10-member commission -- six Democrats and four Republicans -- was set up in 2009 and began holding public hearings in January, calling in high-profile witnesses such as Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
In letters to congressional leaders and President Obama, Angelides said the commission had ‘interviewed more than 700 witnesses, examined hundreds of thousands of documents and held 19 days of public hearings.’
[Updated at 3:40 p.m.: All four Republicans on the commission, including vice chairman Bill Thomas, voted against the delay. In a statement, they said the panel was required by statute to meet the December deadline and that it could be met.
The Commission has had over a year to complete the report and we believe the delivery of the report to the President and Congress is being delayed to accommodate the publication of a book-length document to coincide with the presentation of the FCIC’s findings and conclusions. We believe a report containing the findings and conclusions of the FCIC on the causes of the financial crisis can be delivered by the statutory delivery date and Republican Commissioners are prepared to work to meet the deadline set forth in statute.]
-- Jim Puzzanghera
