Remember that saying about catching more flies with honey than with vinegar?
Yesterday we wrote that the House Financial Services committee, chaired by Rep. Barney Frank, had invited the CEOs of eight big banks — including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citi, and JP Morgan — to testify. But, we noted, the committee wouldn’t say whether any of the CEOs had accepted the invitation — leaving the possibility that they might just say no. Any thought given to issuing subpoenas, we wondered.
It looks like that won’t be necessary. Steve Adamske, a spokesman for the committee, confirmed to TPMmuckraker that all eight CEOs would indeed testify. Adamske said that subpoenas weren’t necessary, since the political optics of not showing up would be too harmful for the banks. He said committee staff is working with the banks to schedule the CEOs’ appearances.
So it looks like we’ll get to hear straight from the horses’ mouths about what the banks have been doing with the bailout funds. Sometimes asking nicely gets results.