Pelosi, House Democrats to Host Economic Forum on Friday

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democratic
Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel, and House Financial Services Committee Chairman
Barney Frank today announced that House Democrats will host an Economic Forum
on Friday, December 7. The forum will address the state of America's economy
and will convene national experts on economic and financial issues, including
the subprime mortgage crisis.

"Restoring the American dream for millions of our nation's working families
has been a central priority for House Democrats," Pelosi said. "The attention
and efforts of Congress must be focused on the strains Americans are feeling
-- the spiraling price at the pump and for home heating, the real consequences
of the mortgage foreclosure crisis, and the falling purchasing power of their
paychecks. At this forum, we will bring together the leading minds on these
issues with the legislators who are prepared to make a difference."

The forum is the latest in an ongoing effort by the 110th Congress to deliver
a New Direction for Economic Security. Already this year, Congress has passed
and the President has signed into law: a new federal minimum wage giving
millions of Americans a pay raise; the largest college aid expansion since the
GI Bill in 1944; scholarships for a dramatic increase in math, science,
engineering, and technology teachers to train a 21st century workforce; a
budget blueprint that puts America on a path to doubling funding for basic
research and development to drive American innovation.

The New Direction Congress is working to reach bipartisan agreement to address
the subprime lending crisis and predatory loan practices that are threatening
to force hundreds of thousands of American families out of their homes, to
lower energy costs through landmark energy security legislation that will help
lessen our dependence on foreign oil, and to provide health insurance for 10
million children of families struggling to make ends meet.

Among those invited to attend the forum are:

Jane D'Arista -- Ms. D'Arista is the Director of Programs for the Financial
Markets Center. Before joining the Center's staff, she was Chief Finance
Economist for the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance of the House
Energy and Commerce Committee from 1983 to 1986. Before that, she served for
five years as an international analyst at the Congressional Budget Office and
for 12 years as a staff member of the House Banking Committee. Her
publications include The Evolution of U.S. Finance, a two-volume set published
by M.E. Sharpe in 1994.

Laurence D. Fink -- Mr. Fink is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
BlackRock. Prior to founding BlackRock in 1988, he was a member of the
Management Committee and a Managing Director of The First Boston Corporation.
Prior to BlackRock, he also started the Financial Futures and Options
Department and headed the Mortgage and Real Estate Products Group. Mr. Fink
earned an MBA degree with a concentration in real estate from the University
of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1976 and a BA degree in political
science from UCLA in 1974.

William Hambrecht -- Mr. Hambrecht is the founder and CEO of WR Hambrecht &
Company, an investment company headquartered in San Francisco. He also serves
on the Board of Trustees for The American University of Beirut and is on the
Advisory Investment Committee to the Board of Regents of the University of
California.

Warren Hellman -- Mr. Hellman is the Chairman and Co-Founder of Hellman &
Friedman, LLC, a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm. Since its
founding in 1984, Hellman & Friedman has managed over $5 billion in private
capital and is a 10% investor in NASDAQ. Mr. Hellman is also a director of
NASDAQ, a member of the San Francisco Committee on Jobs, and a member of the
University of California Haas Business School Advisory Board. Before founding
Hellman & Friedman, Mr. Hellman served as the President and Chairman of the
Lehman Corporation.

Eugene A. Ludwig -- Mr. Ludwig is the Founder and CEO of Promontory Group, a
suite of companies offering products and services to assist banks and other
financial businesses. Prior to founding Promontory, he was Vice Chairman and
Senior Control Officer of Bankers Trust / Deutsche Bank. From 1993 to 1998,
Mr. Ludwig headed the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and
also served as Chairman of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination
Council (FFIEC). Prior to becoming Comptroller, he was a partner at the law
firm of Covington & Burling, specializing in financial services regulatory
matters.

Lawrence Mishel -- Mr. Mishel is the President of the Economic Policy
Institute (EPI) in 1987. As EPI's first research director, then as vice
president, and now president, he has played a significant role in building
EPI's research capabilities and reputation. He has researched, written, and
spoken widely on the economy and economic policy as it affects middle- and
low-income families. He is principal author of a major research volume, The
State of Working America (published every even-numbered year since 1988) which
provides a comprehensive overview of the U.S. labor market and living
standards.

Felix G. Rohatyn -- Since 2006, Mr. Rohatyn has served as the Senior Adviser
to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lehman Brothers Inc. and Lehman
Brothers Holdings Inc. During the 1970s, he was the chair of New York's
Municipal Assistance Corporation (MAC) and helped the city avoid bankruptcy.
From 1997-2000 he served as the U.S. Ambassador to France. Mr. Rohatyn is
currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Lewis A. (Lee) Sachs -- Mr. Sachs is a partner of Mariner Investment Group
where he is Chairman of the Investment Committee. Prior to joining Mariner, he
was CEO of Cornerstone Asset Management and until 2003, Vice Chairman of
Perseus LLC, a merchant bank and private equity fund management firm. Mr.
Sachs also served in the Clinton Administration as Assistant Secretary of the
Treasury for Financial Markets. He was a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of
the Treasury and Chairman of the Steering Committee of the President's Working
Group on Financial Markets. Prior to joining the Treasury Department, Mr.
Sachs was a Senior Managing Director, Head of Global Capital Markets and a
member of the Board of Directors of the Bear, Stearns Companies Inc.

Allen Sinai -- Mr. Sinai is the Founder, Chief Global Economist, and President
of Decision Economics, Inc. (PDE), a global economic and financial advisory
firm. He is also an adjunct professor of Economics and Finance in the Lemberg
Program of International Economics and Finance at Brandeis University. During
the 1980s, he was the Chief Global Economist at Lehman Brothers, and the
Director of Lehman Brothers Global Economics. In the 1970s, Mr. Sinai and Otto
Eckstein developed the influential DRI Model of the US Economy.

Bill Spriggs -- Mr. Spriggs is the Chair of the Department of Economics at
Howard University. From 1988 to 2004, he was Executive Director of the
National Urban League's Institute for Opportunity and Equality. In 2004, he
was awarded the Congressional Black Caucus Chairman's Award. Under President
Clinton, he led the staff of the National Commission for Employment Policy
(1993-1994) and worked at the Department of Commerce and the Small Business
Administration. He is also a past board member and President of the National
Economic Association, the professional organization of African-American
economists.

Larry Summers -- Mr. Summers served as Treasury Secretary under President
Clinton (1999-2001). He is also President Emeritus of Harvard University
(2001-2006). From 1991-1993, before joining the Department of the Treasury, he
served as Chief Economist at the World Bank. In 1993 he received the John
BatesClark Medal from the American Economic Association. Mr. Summers is a
member of the boards of the Brookings Institution and the Center for Global
Development. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the
Trilateral Commission.

John J. Sweeney -- Mr. Sweeney is the President of the American Federation of
Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). Prior to AFL-CIO, he
served as President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). His
trade union career began as a research assistant with the Ladies Garment
Workers. In 1960, he joined SEIU as a contract director for New York City
Local 32B. He went on to become union president and to lead two citywide
strikes of apartment maintenance workers. In 1980, he was elected president of
the international. Mr. Sweeney is the author of America Needs A Raise:
Fighting for Economic Security and Social Justice.

Laura Tyson -- Ms. Tyson is a professor at the University of California's Haas
School of Business. She served in the Clinton Administration as the Chairman
of the President's Council of Economic Advisers (1993-1995) and Director of
the National Economic Council (1995-1996). Ms. Tyson is currently a member of
the Council on Foreign Relations, the Brussels European and Global Economic
Laboratory (BRUEGEL) and the Institute for International Economics.

SOURCE Office of the Speaker of the House

Contact: Brendan Daly or Nadeam Elshami of the Office of the Speaker of the
House, +1-202-226-7616