Wednesday, April 22, 2009 | 4:56 p.m.
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today he believes an independent panel or select committee is necessary to investigate the Wall Street meltdown, but has not made a decision on the best way for Congress to proceed.
Reid said the traditional committees in Congress that would typically oversee such an inquiry have full plates with so many other issues related to the nation’s financial crisis.
“I personally feel that with the burden all these committees have now because of what’s going on, I think we’re going to either have a 9-11 type commission or a select committee,” Reid told the Las Vegas Sun.
Reid said he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi discussed the issue yesterday and planned to do so again today.
“We’re taking a look at it,” he said. “We have not made a decision yet what were going to.”
Pelosi called for such probe last week during a speech in California, various news outlets reported.
Support on the Hill has been growing on both sides of the aisle for such an investigation that could determine what went wrong with the financial collapse and how to prevent a recurrence.
Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota introduced legislation last month calling for a select committee. Democratic Rep. John Larson of Connecticut similarly called for a nonpartisan probe, the Hill reported.
Reid said the committee chairs and their staffs “just simply don’t think they can do it.”
Forming a select committee would require 60 votes in the Senate, Reid said. He said it was too early to know if he would have the votes.
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