White House Says It Had No Role In SEC Charges Against Goldman
- By Jared A. Favole Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The White House, responding to speculation that the Securities and Exchange Commission's case against Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) appears curiously timed to coincide with President Barack Obama's push for overhauling the financial sector, said it hasn't played a role in the charges against the Wall Street giant. "The SEC is by law an independent agency," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said several times during a daily briefing with reporters. "What it does it does not coordinate with the White House and we receive no advance notice of any enforcement action." The SEC's fraud charges against Goldman, announced Friday, appeared to dovetail with Obama's intensifying push for Congress to pass sweeping laws overhauling the financial sector. The timing raised questions about White House involvement. Gibbs said the White House wasn't given advance notice about the charges, which have battered Goldman's shares, and didn't give any signals to the SEC to look for problems at the Wall Street firm. Gibbs said even without the charges against Goldman, the American public and lawmakers have enough evidence to know the financial sector needs to be overhauled. "The actions that Wall Street undertook over many years is proof enough...that something has to change and that something has to change this year." Obama has increased the pressure on lawmakers, particularly Republicans, to quickly pass legislation overhauling the financial industry. The president used his weekly radio address on Saturday to lash out at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) and Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas), the chairman of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, for meeting with Wall Street executives to slow progress on the issue. The House already has passed financial legislation while the Senate is expected to vote on a bill as early as this week. Democrats in the Senate need one Republican vote to avoid a filibuster. Republicans have accused Senate Democrats and the White House of not seriously considering their proposals to regulate the financial sector. Republicans say current proposals would guarantee future bailouts and push complex financial instruments known as derivatives further from the public eye. Democrats and the White House disagree. Gibbs reiterated that the White House thinks the Senate will pass a bipartisan bill but said he couldn't characterize how many Republicans would support the measure. "I don't think anybody wants to go home and explain why they were spending their time focused on keeping the big banks in charge," he said, referring to lawmakers, many of whom are expected to face tough challenges for reelection. Gibbs said the White House expects a bill will be at the president's desk within a few months. -By Jared A. Favole, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9256; jared.favole@dowjones.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=8fKdcGjQRHlOQcJAuTpKDg%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
