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WASHINGTON (AP) - All five members of the Securities and Exchange Commission are being asked by Congress to defend the watchdog agency against accusations that it may be tilting toward business interests and away from investors.
A hearing Tuesday by the House Financial Services Committee, under Democratic Chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts, marks the first time in more than a decade that all SEC commissioners have been called to testify together.
Business interests have been pressing for an easing of corporate governance rules and restraints on class-action lawsuits against corporations and auditors. Their campaign was embraced by a group of 16 House Republicans, who in a letter to Chairman Christopher Cox urged the SEC "to examine the costs and benefits to the average individual investor of private class-action litigation under the federal securities laws."
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