NEWS RELEASE
Committee on Energy and Commerce Democrats
Congressman John D. Dingell, Ranking Member

GAO AGREES TO REPORT TO DINGELL, MARKEY,
SCHAKOWSKY ON FINANCIAL MARKETS
PREPAREDNESS; DESIGN PHASE COMPLETE
BY JUNE 30, 2006

Washington, D.C. – Rep. John D. Dingell (D-MI), Ranking Member of the House
Committee on Energy and Commerce, today released a commitment letter dated April 26, 2006, from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), agreeing to submit a followup report to Energy and Commerce requesters on financial market preparedness. GAO advises that its design phase will be completed by June 30, 2006. The overall objectives of GAO’s work will be to:

(1) Identify financial markets organizations’ efforts to improve their physical and information security and business continuity plans;

(2) Identify efforts to improve financial markets’ telecommunications resiliency;

(3) Determine how financial organizations are planning for pandemic diseases; and

(4) Assess financial regulators’ oversight efforts.

This report was requested by letter dated October 27, 2004, from Reps. Dingell, Markey, and Schakowsky, in response to GAO’s September 27, 2004 report, Financial Market Preparedness: Improvements Made, but More Action Needed to Prepare for Wide-Scale Disasters, GAO-04-984, and is a companion to GAO’s June 29, 2005 report, Financial Market Organizations Have Taken Steps to Protect Against Electronic Attacks, but Could Take Additional Actions, GAO-05-679R.

The Committee on Energy and Commerce has jurisdiction over health and health facilities, and over the communications networks on which financial markets and other strategic industries rely. Said Dingell: “Failure to address these issues in a timely, effective, and complete manner would pose unacceptable risks to the American economy. I therefore look forward to everyone’s cooperation in this important undertaking.”

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