March 20, 2008 (LPAC)--Two Congressional committees are planning to investigate the actions of the Federal Reserve in providing $30 billion for the bail out of Bear Stearns, reported MarketWatch and the Wall Street Journal today. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee want to probe what the burden on U.S. taxpayers will be. In a statement to MarketWatch, Baucus said he is working to determine what tax and securities laws have been, or might be used in other actions like the Fed bailout, which he called the ``dramatic and unprecedented actions by the Federal Reserve and by the Treasury...'' over the weekend. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking Iowa Republican on the Senate Finance Committee made a combative statement on the bailout, saying, ``Corporate bigwigs shouldn't be able to profit from a deal while employees, shareholders and creditors have to carry the burden of a company's demise.''

Lyndon LaRouche, who denounced the Fed bailout as illegal in a March 18 statement, said that Congress should conduct its investigation into the criminality of the Fed and Treasury's actions in violating the statute, the Emergency Banking Act, passed by Congress on March 9, 1933. "These guys are cheating," said LaRouche. Besides, the whole bailout scam "is an obstruction of our plan--the Homeowners and Bank Protection act and the three steps needed to survive," that LaRouche identified in his March 12, 2008 webcast, he added.