I’m listening in on a hearing going on right now by the House Agriculture Committee that is focusing on the role of credit default swaps and the SEC’s Erik Sirri (see his opening statement here) is taking some tough questions from a few House members.

Here’s a snippet from Jim Marshall of Georgia: “To suggest that the SEC is innocent in all of this in a stretch.” And just before that statement, Bob Etheridge just tried to get Sirri to answer a question about what role CDS played in the downfall of Bear Stearns, but Sirri said he would have to get back to him.

But here’s my question: why is the Ag Committee, which normally focuses on farm-related issues diving into the CDS market?

I’ll be listening in on the rest of this.

Originally posted at: http://www.footnoted.org/