Raters Set to Appear Before Second House Hearing on State, Local Governments

WASHINGTON — A House oversight panel will hold a second hearing on fiscal problems faced by state and local governments Tuesday, with witnesses from two major rating agencies.

The hearing is called “State and Municipal Debt: The Coming Crisis? Part II.” It will be held by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s panel on TARP, financial services, and bailouts of public and private programs, which is chaired by Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C.

Witnesses slated to testify at the hearing include Dan Liljenquist, a Utah state senator; Robin Prunty, a team leader for state ratings in Standard & Poor’s public finance ratings group; Robert Kurtter, managing director for U.S., state, and regional ratings at Moody’s Investors Service; and Andrew Biggs, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.

In a statement, the subcommittee said the rating agency witnesses will discuss growing debt and pension obligations of state and local governments and whether they could result in rating changes.

Last month, the same subcommittee held a hearing on state and local governments’ unfunded pension liabilities.

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