Today I’m looking forward to Kucinich’s Domestic Policy Subcommittee (of House Oversight and Government Reform) hearing with Treasury’s Kashkari (TARP czar holdover from Bushco and Paulson’s Treasury, previously of Goldman Sachs) on TARP waste and abuse. When Kashkari testified before this subcommittee in November, Kucinich and Issa (!) teamed up to expose Kashkari and the TARP generally. Still one of my favorite hearing moments:

kucinich to kashkari: no one questions that you are working hard. our question is who are you working for?

Kucinich actually comes to hearings prepared and frequently asks both good questions and good follow up questions.

Live streaming is expected at most committee websites (see links below) and CSPAN (schedule). Direct realplayer links are: CSPAN, CSPAN-2, CSPAN-3, CSPAN Radio.

Also, for most Senate hearing rooms, there is a live audio feed provided by CSPAN. Although they are not always activated, when they are it’s a great alternative link especially for dial up. Check the room number of the hearing in the list below and then click the room’s audio realplayer link on the list of links I’ve compiled.

…

9:30 am – House Appropriations
Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee
On assessment of the serious and violent offender reentry initiative.

9:30 am – House Financial Services
Markup of S. 383 – To amend the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act to provide the Special Inspector General with additional authorities and responsibilities, and the report on the FY 2010 budget views and estimates.

10 am – House Agriculture
Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Subcommittee
On reviewing animal identification systems. 

10 am – House Appropriations
Interior and Environment Subcommittee
On oversight of the U.S. Forest Service.

10 am – House Appropriations
Defense Subcommittee
On soldier equipment, ergonomics and injuries.

10 am – House Appropriations
Financial Services Subcommittee
On the actions of the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the financial crisis.

Witness:

  • Mary Shapiro, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission.

Note on Mary Shapiro: from LA Times:

While the SEC is incompetent, the securities industry’s self-policing organization, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is “very corrupt,” Markopolos charged. That organization was headed until December by Mary Schapiro, President Barack Obama’s new SEC chief.

10 am – House Armed Services
On security challenges arising from the global financial crisis.

Witnesses:

  • Richard Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations
  • Richard Cooper, Maurits C. Boas Professor of International Economics, Harvard University
  • Dov Zakheim, former Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)
  • David Rothkopf, Visiting Scholar, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

10 am – House Education and Labor
Markup of H.R. 1388 – Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act.

10 am – House Energy and Commerce
Health Subcommittee
On revising the food safety system.

10 am – House Foreign Affairs
On a new beginning for U.S. policy in the Americas.

  • Mr. Peter Hakim, President, The Inter-American Dialogue
  • Mr. Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty, President, McLarty Associates
  • The Honorable Otto J. Reich, President, Otto Reich Associates, LLC, (Former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs)

Note on Otto Reich: from wikipedia (more at the link):

From 1983 to 1986, Reich established and managed the inter-agency Office of Public Diplomacy for Latin America and the Caribbean. The OPD declassified Central Intelligence Agency information and disseminated it to influence public opinion and spur Congress to continue to fund the Reagan’s administration’s campaign against Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. The OPD was highly controversial and was criticized by numerous government sources, including a staff report by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which characterized it as a domestic political and propaganda operation.[3] In 1987, an investigation by the Comptroller General determined that the OPD engaged in "prohibited, covert propaganda activities, beyond the range of acceptable agency public information activities". The OPD also violated “a restriction on the State Department’s annual appropriations prohibiting the use of federal funds for publicity or propaganda purposes not authorized by Congress.”[1]

10 am – House Natural Resources
Markup of pending resources legislation.

10 am – House Oversight and Government Reform
Domestic Policy Subcommittee (Kucinich chairs this subcommittee)
On oversight of TARP focusing on assessing the Department of Treasury’s efforts to prevent waste and abuse of taxpayer funds.

Witnesses
Panel 1

  • Neel Kashkari, Acting Interim Assistant Secretary for Financial Stabilization, Department of Treasury

Panel 2

  • Professor Anthony B. Sanders, W.P Carey School of Business, Arizona State University
  • Stephen Horne , VP, Master Data Management and Integration Services, Dow Jones & Co.
  • Mark Bolgiano, President and CEO, XBRL US, Inc.

Panel 3

  • Neil M. Barofsky, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Assets Relief Program
  • Richard Hillman, Managing Director, Financial Markets and Community Investment, Government Accountability Office

10 am – House Science and Technology
Energy and Environment Subcommittee
On FutureGen and the Department of Energy’s advanced coal programs. The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on near-term and long-term strategies to accelerate research, development and
demonstration of advanced technologies to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from new and
existing coal-fired power plants.

10 am – House Small Business
Regulations, Healthcare, and Trade Subcommittee
On how the Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture have responded to the recent rash of food recalls and how they will work with small businesses.

10 am – House Ways and Means
Markup of the report to the FY 2010 budget views and estimates and on expanding coverage, improving the quality, and controlling costs of healthcare.

Witnesses

  • John Z. Ayanian, M.D., MPP, on behalf of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Health Insurance Status and Its Consequences
  • Karen Davis, Ph.D., President, The Commonwealth Fund, New York, New York
  • John M. Pickering, FSA, MAAA, Principal , Consulting Actuary, Milliman, Inc, Seattle, Washington

10 am – Senate Budget – room SD-608
Hearings to examine the President’s proposed budget request for fiscal year 2009 for the Department of Energy.

Witness:

  • The Honorable Steven Chu, Secretary, Department of Energy

10 am – Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs – room SD-342
Hearings to examine violent Islamist extremism, focusing on al-Shabaab recruitment in American.

10 am – Senate Judiciary and House Judiciary – room SH-216
Senate Subcommittee on Constitution
House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties
Joint hearings with the to examine S.J.Res.7 and H.J.Res.21, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to the election of Senators.

10 am – Senate Rules and Administration – room SR-301
Hearings to examine voter registration, focusing on assessing current problems.

10 am House Transportation and Infrastructure
Overview of Coast Guard Drug and Migrant Interdiction

10 am – House Transportation and Infrastructure
Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee
EDA Reauthorization: Rating Past Performances and Setting Goals During an Economic Crisis

10:30 am – Joint Economic Committee – room SD-106
TARP Accountability and Oversight: Achieving Transparency

Witnesses:

  • Damon Silvers, Associate General Counsel for the AFL-CIO and Deputy Chair, Congressional Oversight Panel for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act
  • Richard Neiman, Superintendent of Banks, NY State Banking Department and Member, Congressional Oversight Panel for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act
  • Nicole Tichon, Tax and Budget Advocate, USPIRG

10:30 am – House Budget
On the views of members of Congress to the proposed FY 2010 budget.

1 pm – House Appropriations
Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee
On innovative prisoner reentry programs.

1 pm – House Small Business
Markup of the report to the FY 2010 budget views and estimates.

1:30 pm – House Appropriations
Defense Subcommittee
On Army and Marine Corps readiness.

Witnesses:

  • Peter Charelli, Vice Chief of Staff, Army
  • James Amos, Assistant Commandant, Marine Corps.

2 pm – House Homeland Security
Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee
On investigating the groups involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the threats they pose to the U.S., ways to protect domestic, critical infrastructure from attacks, and the support and involvement of the Department of Homeland Security to improve private sector security.

2 pm – House Judiciary
Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law
Hearing on: Circuit City Unplugged: Why Did Chapter 11 Fail to Save 34,000 Jobs?

2:30 pm – House Financial Services
Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee
On a comprehensive view of the American mortgage system.

Witnesses:
Panel 1

  • Ms. Sandra F. Braunstein, Director, Division of Consumer and Community Affairs, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
  • Mr. Steven L. Antonakes, Commissioner, Massachusetts Division of Banks, on behalf of Conference of State Bank Supervisors

Panel 2

  • Mr. David Berenbaum, Executive Vice President, National Community Reinvestment Coalition
  • Ms. Julia Gordon, Senior Policy Counsel, Center for Responsible Lending
  • Ms. Margot Saunders, Counsel, National Consumer Law Center
  • Ms. Stephanie Jones, Executive Director, National Urban League Policy Institute
  • Ms. Graciela Aponte, Analyst, National Council of La Raza

Panel 3

  • Mr. Michael Middleton, President and CEO, Community Bank of Tri-County, on behalf of the American Bankers Association
  • Mr. David G. Kittle, Chairman, Mortgage Bankers Association
  • Mr. Marc S. Savitt, President, National Association of Mortgage Brokers
  • Mr. Charles McMillan, President, National Association of Realtors
  • Mr. Jim Amorin, President, Appraisal Institute
  • Mr. Joe J. Robson, Chairman of the Board, National Association of Home Builders
  • Mr. Laurence E. Platt, Partner, K&L Gates, on behalf of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association
  • Mr. Donald C. Lampe, Partner, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC

3 pm – House Appropriations
Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee
On innovative prisoner reentry programs.

Witness:

  • Jennie Amison, Director, Gemeinschaft Home.

3:30 pm – House Armed Services
Terrorism, Unconventional Threats, and Capabilities Subcommittee
On tracking and disrupting terrorist financial networks.

Witnesses
Panel 1:

  • Dr. Matthew Levitt, Director, Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, The Washington Institute of Near East Policy

Panel 2:

  • Mr. Edward Frothingham III, Principal Director for Transnational Threats, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counternarcotics Counterproliferation, and Global Threats.
  • Lieutenant General David P. Fridovich, USA, Commander, Center for Special Operations, U. S. Special Operations Command

3:30 pm – House Rules
On H.R. 1262 – Water Quality Investment Act.