At yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on hedge funds, there were some frank words on what to do next. They came from, well, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who said he will introduce a bill today with fellow Dems that would give the Securities and Exchange Commission “clear authority to require registration and monitoring” of hedge fund advisers, as a way of combating a court’s rejection of the SEC’s rule. “Given the increasing size of hedge funds and the growing rile they are playing in the economy,” Frank, who sit on the House Financial Services Committee, said in a statement, “it would be a grave error to allow the court decision denying any authority by the SEC to stand.” He suggested that “at the very least, Congress should give the SEC the power it has sought to require registration.” Meanwhile, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) questioned whether the judiciary committee was the proper venue for the hearing. “Many of these issues are best address in the banking committee.” No sooner said than done: A spokesman for the Senate Banking Committee told reporters that it has set an August hearing date with hedge funds.
