Watchdog testifies about lack of TARP transparency
From Sunshine Review
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September 24, 2009 Neil Barofsky, the Special Inspector General over the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), testified in front of Congress on September 24, 2009 to shed light on the lack of transparency in the $700 billion program.[1]
[edit] Testify
Barofsky, the independent government watchdog or Special Inspector General, was put in charge of overseeing the $700 billion program. His basic message in his testimony before Congress is that though government transparency has improved slightly under the Obama Administration, TARP is almost entirely opaque.
He thinks that the government’s “basic attitude” on the transparency and accountability of the program “remains a significant frustration.”
“TARP largely remains a program in which taxpayers are not being told what most of the TARP recipients are doing with their money and will not be told the full details of how their money is being invested,” Barofsky planned to say.
Treasury Department officials are beginning to release the results of TARP loans (i.e. total investments and returns). Details about how the money was invested by recipients, however, is absent from the report. Such a move ignores the recommendations of watchdogs.
The Treasury Department soon will start to report more details about TARP recipients' use of the money, such as the recipients' total investments and the repayments of debt obligations. It will not report on how specific firms allocate funds.
“We remain puzzled as to why Treasury refuses to adopt our recommendation to report on each TARP recipient’s use of TARP funds,” Barofsky said.[1]
[edit] External links
- "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act: One Year Later," United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
- Barofsky's statement from September 24, 2009
[edit] References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "TARP Inspector: Transparency Lacking in $700 Billion Bailout to Financial Firms," Watchdog.org, September 24, 2009
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