TARP Oversight Panel Urges Transparency, Accountability

One would think that it’d be implied that keeping track of where the $700 billion in bailout is exactly going is a good idea, but we’re still apparently struggling with even the very most basic tasks such as tracking exactly what recipients are doing with any TARP money they receive:

U.S. lawmakers should demand more accountability from the government’s $700 billion financial rescue package before releasing the second half of the funds, the head of the program’s watchdog panel said Friday.

“We would urge Congress to consider the accountability and transparency questions, the question of whether money is going to be used for foreclosures, and the overall strategy issues as part of any additional requests made for more money,” said Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren, who chairs a bipartisan panel charged with overseeing the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The Obama administration is already looking at a broad revamp of the program, which has faced criticism from Democrats and Republicans over its implementation. Obama’s team is expected to launch a major program to prevent foreclosures. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D., Mass.) said he is working with the Obama administration to try and come up with restrictions on how the second installment of the fund is used, including aid to cities.