Wall Street’s Straight Man in Washington

On Oct. 15 the leading lights of the House Financial Services Committee, Republican and Democrat, arrived in Bern, Switzerland, for a gathering hosted by the U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Suzi LeVine. It was the final leg of a three-country congressional delegation, or Codel, led by the committee’s Republican chairman, Jeb Hensarling of Texas, that had already traveled through Germany and England. Officially, the trip was a “fact-finding mission” to study global banking networks and bilateral trade. In reality, it was a luxury European vacation.

Codels are a cherished perk, one of the few still available to members of Congress. Lawmakers bring their spouses. Staffers jockey to be included. The plush hotels, foreign-dignitary treatment, and bipartisan bonhomie are a welcome relief from Washington’s normal travails. Hensarling had magnanimously invited the top-ranking Democrats along with his Republican subcommittee chairs, so the mood in Bern was highly convivial.