HONOLULU (AP) - Sen. Daniel Akaka says he understands the need to stabilize the financial markets but emphasizes that the country cannot afford to give the treasury secretary a blank check with no accountability or oversight.
The Hawaii Democrat is a member of the Senate Banking Committee. He made his comments Tuesday following a hearing on the turmoil in the U.S. credit markets.
Akaka says Congress must deliberate and provide a solution that protects taxpayers as much as possible and limits the potential for this new authority to be abused.
He says besides the emergency legislation to inject $700 billion into troubled financial companies, the U.S. needs a complete reexamination of our financial services oversight system.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
