RECENT POSTS
- Obama to Lay Out Emissions Goals in Copenhagen
- Free Bird
- The "Good" War
- The Presidential Planner
- Under the Stars, Obama Toasts India’s Prime Minister
- White House State Dinner – Who Made the Exclusive Guest List?
- Admiral Mike Mullen To Geneva for START Talks
- VP Biden to Indian Prime Minister: “You’re the Hottest Ticket in Town”
- FLOTUS on the State Dinner: Like a Swan, "Calm and Serene Above Water, But We're Paddling Like Mad, Going Crazy Underneath"
- White House State Dinner: The Menu, Entertainment, and Decor
MONTHLY ARCHIVES
« Previous | Main | Next »
PEBO Asks Bush to Ask Congress for Remaining $350 Billion in TARP Funds
January 12, 2009 12:04 PM
Late Monday morning, President-elect Barack Obama reached out to President George Bush and asked him to notify Congress of his intention to pursue the remaining $350 billion in funds to stabilize the nation's financial systems, the so-called TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) money.
The call from Mr. Obama came after President Bush's 47th and final press conference, where he reported that he had told President-elect Obama "that if he felt that he needed the $350 billion, I would be willing to ask for it. In other words, if he felt like it needed to happen on my watch." President Bush said, "I don't intend to make a request unless he specifically asks me to make it."
That request came soon afterwards.
"President Bush agreed to the president-elect’s request," White House press secretary Dana Perino said in a statement. "We will continue our consultations with the president-elect’s transition team, and with Congress, on how best to proceed in accordance with the requirements of the statute."
Mr. Obama's aides had been telling congressional leaders that the president-elect would be requesting those funds, albeit with great accountability, transparency, and rules about how the funds can be spent.
Behind closed doors at the Democratic Senate caucus meeting Sunday afternoon, Obama economic adviser Larry Summers "made a very strong argument for why it’s important and critical to the overall recovery, and that’s an argument most of us understand," Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., told reporters.
On This Week with George Stephanopoulos, President-elect Obama said that "keeping flow of credit is critical. And we had to do something last fall. I, like many, are disappointed with how the whole TARP process has unfolded. There hasn't been enough oversight. We found out this week in a report that we are not tracking where this money is going."
Mr. Obama said his team has been working with Congress to come up with guidelines and principles so Congress will allow him access to the funds. His team has tried to assured Congress that "this is not just money that is being given to banks without any strings attached and nobody knows what happens, but rather that it is targeted very specifically at getting credit flowing again to businesses and families."
He also said he wanted to make sure the money is spent to help "families on the ground who may have lost their homes because they lost their jobs or because they got sick," and "small businesses that are under an enormous business crunch."
Obama Transition Team officials believe they can make most if not all of the reforms to TARP administratively, have assured Democratic congressional leaders -- such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and House Financial Services Committe Chairman Rep. Barney Frankm D-Mass. -- they share their goals with regard to reforming the program.
In a letter to Reid, Pelosi, and their GOP counterparts Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, and House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, Summers today pledged that President-elect Obama and his team would use the TARP funds to get credit flowing for "lending for small businesses, auto purchases, and municipalities"; "work with Congress to strengthen oversight...analyze the recommendations of the Congressional Oversight Panel and other oversight bodies and implement those we believe will make the program more effective"; put firm restrictions on those receiving the funds -- limited executive compensation until taxpayer money is paid back, ban dividend payments beyond de minimis amounts, put limits on stock buybacks and the acquisition of already financially strong companies; invest taxpayer money only when sufficient private capital cannot be raised; and "launch a sweeping effort to address the foreclosure crisis."
-- jpt
January 12, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (5)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
Hey Congress! How about a little accountability? Who is to be 'watching' where this money goes? King Henry Paulson is obviously not the person (every though YOU agreed to appoint him!)
This money is to go to "lending for small businesses, auto purchases, and municipalities". Wasn't the first $350 BILLION to go to the banks to get lending going for small businesses, auto loans and municipalities?
This Congress is a bunch of IDIOTS! And if we as voting tax-paying citizens don't get involved and hold their feet to the fire then we're the idiots!
Posted by: taxed2death | Jan 13, 2009 10:33:15 AM
jpt writes:
He also said he wanted to make sure the money is spent to help "families on the ground who may have lost their homes because they lost their jobs or because they got sick," and "small businesses that are under an enormous business crunch."
The MYSTERY is why He and the clothes-horse Congress are saying NOTHING about the already-dispossessed poor, as invisible and unmentionable for PEBO as ... Palestinians in Gaza.
Anybody who doesn't ALREADY regret allowing the "Obama" organization to hijack the nomination of the former Democrats will regret it soon enough.
Posted by: Belle Starr | Jan 12, 2009 1:15:47 PM
"They don't need to release any more funds until they find out exactly where the previous amounts have been spent and exactly what will be done with the additional asked for now."
Brock the wannebe uber-WASP is just following orders.
Posted by: Belle Starr | Jan 12, 2009 12:59:48 PM
They don't need to release any more funds until they find out exactly where the previous amounts have been spent and exactly what will be done with the additional asked for now. The taxpayers deserve accountability for every dollar of this enormous "bailout" we will be repaying for years to come, along with our Children and Grandchildren. It's time to stop the free handouts by the government.
Posted by: Louisianalady | Jan 12, 2009 12:28:37 PM
If Obama is looking for acountability on the remaining TARP funding, then someone other than Paulson must be the overseer.
Posted by: kat | Jan 12, 2009 12:15:56 PM
Post a comment
