On the recordJuly 13, 2010
I come to the floor this evening to say a few words about a problem I believe we need to address in the context of this catastrophe. That problem is the problem of regulatory capture of the captive regulator. Although it comes up in the context of the failure of the Minerals Management Service to do its job to see that the private sector deepwater drilling in the gulf was done properly, it is a problem that is not limited just to the geyser of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico and the failure of MMS to have taken adequate steps to prevent it. It occurs in other areas as well. One that leaps to mind is the Securities and Exchange Commission, the so-called securities watchdog which was sound asleep at the switch as the economy careened towards the huge financial meltdown with repercussions we are still seeing today.
