Bulletins

House and Senate will hold hearings on GameStop

On Thursday, both the incoming Senate Banking Committee chair Sherrod Brown and the House Financial Services Committee chair Maxine Waters announced that their committees will hold a hearings on the current state of the stock market, in light of the GameStop surge.

"People on Wall Street only care about the rules when they're the ones getting hurt," Brown said in a press release. "It's time for SEC and Congress to make the economy work for everyone."

"We must deal with the hedge funds whose unethical conduct directly led to the recent market volatility and we must examine the market in general and how it has been manipulated by hedge funds and their financial partners to benefit themselves while others pay the price," Waters said in a statement.

The hearing comes amid an explosion of anger from lawmakers over Robinhood's decision to suspend trading of GameStop, AMC and other securities. The Biden administration and Congress have been watching closely as the value of GameStop stock skyrocketed this week, spurred by retail traders mobilizing on the r/WallStreetBets subreddit. It's unclear so far whether any securities laws have been broken.

Emily Birnbaum

Emily Birnbaum ( @birnbaum_e) is a former tech policy reporter with Protocol. Her coverage focuses on the U.S. government's attempts to regulate one of the most powerful industries in the world, with a focus on antitrust, privacy and politics. Previously, she worked as a tech policy reporter with The Hill after spending several months as a breaking news reporter. She is a Bethesda, Maryland native and proud Kenyon College alumna.

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