Lawmaker probing if Treasury meddled in S&P rating
Reuters ^ | 7/27/11 | Sarah N. Lynch and Rachelle Younglai
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2754892/posts
A congressional panel is examining whether the Obama administration tried to unduly influence Standard & Poor’s before the credit rater revised its outlook on the debt rating to negative.
Randy Neugebauer, the Republican chairman of a House oversight panel, said on Wednesday his staff is probing whether Treasury tried to make material changes to a draft of S&P’s news release announcing the negative outlook revision in April.
“Our concern was if the administration was trying to influence this rating decision some — above what would be a normal practice,” Neugebauer told reporters after a hearing examining oversight of the credit rating industry and the role the raters are playing in U.S. debt talks.
bttt
Wonder what actual increase in interest rates would ensue from downgrades.