Transparency Amendment to TARP Part 2

[Paul Blumenthal]

http://blog.sunlightfoundation.com/2009/01/15/good-tarp-transparency-amendment/

Good TARP Transparency Amendment

POSTED BY
Paul Blumenthal

Rep. Tim Walz introduced an amendment to the second round of TARP - the economic recovery funds aka the bailout - that would require the Treasury Department to post online reports on how funds are being spent. Here's part of a letter of support Walz is circulating around Capitol Hill:

H.R. 384 requires that institutions that received assistance under the TARP or that receive assistance in the future file at-least quarterly public reports on their use of the funds.

My amendment would require the Treasury Department to make those reports publicly available online, so that the public may have easy access to them.

Americans have the right to know how their money has been spent and what financial institutions have done with their bailout funds.  Yet the operations of the TARP have been insufficiently transparent and accountable.  While the public has spent an enormous amount of money providing assistance to financial institutions, we know far too little about what these institutions did with the money.

It boggles the mind that a requirement for the online posting of any document labeled a "public disclosure" would be left out of legislation in this day and age. How can one call a document "public" if it is only available to those who can physically thumb through files at the Treasury Department? These disclosures must be available online to ensure real transparency.

The House intends on voting on the Walz amendment this afternoon.

--
Paul Blumenthal
Senior Writer | Sunlight Foundation
202-742-1520 ext.229

[Mark Tapscott]

Was this excellent amendment adopted?

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"Tether the state in the morning and by noon it knows the full length of its tether." ---John Cotton (Paraphrased, actually)

[John Wonderlich]

I think they ran out of time, and only got through some of the scheduled amendments, so maybe next week.

[Mark Tapscott]

Thanks much, John.

[David Stephenson]

Paul: what's the full URL for Walz' amendment? I wanted to do a tweet about it.
-- David Stephenson
--
W. David Stephenson | Principal | Stephenson Strategies
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author, "Democratizing Data," O'Reilly Media (tent. publication date, July, 2009)

The Case for Transparent Government: http://tinyurl.com/47k8vj

YouTube versions of ""21st-century disaster tips you WON'T hear from officials": http://tinyurl.com/35yc6r

The Homeland Security 2.0 blog: http://stephensonstrategies.com

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Demolishing and replacing obsolete paradigms since 1988 (:o(|)

[John Wonderlich]

http://www.rules.house.gov/111/AmndmentsSubmitted/hr384/53_111_hr384_walz.pdf

[Paul Blumenthal]

In the sad conclusion to this little amendment's story, Chris Bowers from Open Left reported that Chris Dodd won't introduce mirror legislation in the Senate, thus releasing the 2nd round of TARP with NO new transparency or accountability requirements. The House bill that the Walz amendment could have been attached to is therefore dead. Dodd has HOPE that the new administration will just play nice without any transparency mandates. Perhaps someone might want to see if this is really Dodd's position. Links:

http://blog.sunlightfoundation.com/2009/01/16/no-new-tarp-accountability-requirements/

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=10960