After Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) made its bid for Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) last Friday (yes, it’s only been one week), the House Judiciary Committee quickly sprung into action, scheduling a hearing for today. That seemed a bit hasty, to say the last. Well, the hearing has now been delayed, reports the Mercury News. Apparently there were scheduling conflicts and they never managed to draw up a witness list. The committee sill plans to meet on the issue, but no new date has been set. Maybe they can wait until after Yahoo has given some sort of answer… no doubt there will be plenty of time for grandstanding hearings and investigations.

Update: TechCrunch offers one reason Yahoo wasn’t available today --a special board meeting. Yahoo’s outside PR isn’t commenting on the report so far. Meanwhile, the NY Post is reporting that Yahoo shareholder Capital Research and Management, which it says owns roughly 11.4 percent Yahoo shares and over 6 percent of Microsoft shares, met with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer “to gauge whether the software giant is willing to increase its already sweet $44.6 billion takeover offer. ... ‘They want to make sure they won’t lose more money on their Microsoft stake than they will gain from their position in Yahoo!,’ said one person familiar with the meeting.”

• MSFT-YHOO: House Panel Hearing On Deal On Feb.8