Patrick McHenryChairman

Washington, May 11, 2015 - Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) issued subpoenas today to three agencies that have refused to comply with requests for information and documents needed to continue active investigations.

The three agencies were previously warned that a failure to comply could result in subpoenas.

The subpoenas were issued today to:

• The Justice Department, which is withholding information that would help the Committee assess whether the Dodd-Frank Act ended “too big to fail” and whether decisions are being made to prosecute or not prosecute financial institutions based upon their size, as well as information that would reveal whether the federal government retaliated against a credit rating agency that downgraded the government’s credit rating.

• The New York Federal Reserve Bank, which has failed to adequately produce requested records related to the Obama administration’s contingency planning regarding the debt ceiling.

• The Treasury Department, which is also withholding information about prosecutions of large banks and has also failed to adequately produce requested records related to the Obama administration’s contingency planning regarding the debt ceiling.

Chairman Hensarling made the following statement today about the subpoenas:

“As I have said many times, my hope was that subpoenas would never be necessary because government agencies would hold themselves accountable, answer the legitimate questions we’ve asked, and provide the information we’ve appropriately requested as our committee fulfills its constitutional oversight responsibilities to the American people. Regrettably, these three government agencies have chosen to unlawfully obstruct, delay and withhold information that our Committee and the taxpayers have the right to know.

“These agencies have failed to respond to repeated requests – one of which dates back more than two years. In light of this extraordinary stonewalling, the Committee is left with no reasonable alternative but to subpoena long-overdue information.

“The Financial Services Committee has the duty to hold these agencies accountable to hardworking taxpayers. Since they have repeatedly refused to cooperate, subpoenas for documents are a prudent and measured approach – entirely consistent with the rules of the Committee and the House, and prior precedents established by both Republican and Democratic committee chairmen.”

CLICK HERE FOR BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE NEED FOR SUBPOENAS.