M E M O R A N D U M
To: Reporters and Editors
Re: Treasury Department, LIBOR
Da: Monday, Dec. 3, 2012
Last month, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois announced they will object to Senate consideration of a Treasury Department nominee over the Treasury Department’s lack of a response to the senators’ letter seeking an explanation of apparent inaction to stem the dominance and inform the public of a rigged interest rate that affects mortgages, student loans, credit cards and other loans. The senators pressed for information on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s actions when he became aware of the manipulation of the London Interbank Overnight Rate – or LIBOR. Grassley placed a statement in the Senate floor record, stating that he and Kirk will object to Senate consideration of Richard Berner to head the Office of Financial Research within the Department of the Treasury.
The Treasury Department responded to the senators’ letter. Grassley made the following comment on the response.
“This answer is incomplete. I hope we’ll receive a complete answer from Treasury soon detailing what actions Treasury did or did not take and whether Secretary Geithner would maintain public silence if he became aware of interest rate manipulation in the future. Until then, the nominee hold stands.”
The Treasury Department’s response is available here.
Information on the hold on the Treasury nominee is available here.