Senate Finance Committee Looks Into JPM-Bear Merger

The Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and Sen. Charles Grassley, the panel's ranking member, said they're requesting information about the Fed's role in the JP Morgan Bear Stearns merger -- "exact details of the sale agreement, how and by whom it was negotiated, and all parties to it," and called the acquisition a "taxpayer-backed" transaction.  "With jurisdiction over federal debt, it's the Finance Committee's responsibility to pin down just how the government decided to front $30 billion in taxpayer dollars for the Bear Stearns deal, and to monitor the changing terms of the sale," said Baucus, D-Mont., in a statement. The Finance Committee made the request in a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Bank of New York CEO Timothy Geithner, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and both of the firms' chief executives -- J.P. Morgan's Jamie Dimon and Bear's Alan Schwartz. It requests an answer by close of business day on March 28. UPDATE: Senators Seek Information On Fed's Role In Bear Stearns Deal