Oversight Committees
To The Editor:

I was astonished to hear Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, blame the Bush Administration for the current economic crisis. She made these statements during the discussion in Congress about the bailout of our financial institutions, which was to be a bipartisan effort.

Ms. Pelosi should ask Christopher Dodd (Democrat), chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and Barney Frank (Democrat), chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, why they did not foresee the potential problems in the housing mortgage market and banking industry.

The Senate Committee provides oversight of "banks, banking and financial institutions; deposit insurance; economic stabilization; federal monetary policy, including the Federal Reserve System; and money and credit". The House Committee provides oversight of the "securities, insurance, banking and housing industries. The Committee also oversees the Federal Reserve, the United States Department of the Treasury, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission".

I can only assume the two committees were AWOL and they did not do their jobs overseeing the regulation of the U.S. financial institutions. Donald A. Moskowitz Londonderry, New Hampshire via email