Mr. GRASSLEY: Mr. President, it is no secret that I have worked for decades to bring greater transparency and accountability to all facets of government operations. If there is one thing that I have learned over those years it is that you cannot achieve the goal of greater transparency and accountability without access to information.
During this financial crisis, we hear daily about the need for many more billions in federal funds to save this bank or that financial firm. In response to the crisis the Treasury Department is buying stakes in banks and other companies. That program is known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program-or TARP. It is costing the American taxpayer nearly three quarters of a trillion dollars. Transparency and accountability has never been more important than with a program that big.
In an effort to provide some accountability to the American people for TARP funds, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, was required by legislation to conduct oversight of the TARP program.
The GAO’s mission is to look at the overall performance of the initiative and its impact on the financial system. The GAO is also required to prepare regular reports for Congress.
However, GAO cannot do its job effectively without access to information about how the funds are used. This should be obvious. Unfortunately, however, the bill that created the TARP and told GAO to oversee it, did not give them the authority to access books and records of the private firms who receive TARP money.
In January, Senator Baucus and I introduced a bill, S. 340, to provide the GAO the ability to access the books and records of firms who received money from the TARP. Senator Snowe is also a co-sponsor of the bill, known as the TARP Enhancement Act. Unfortunately, my colleagues on the Banking Committee have not yet taken any action on the bill.
Amendment #1020 is simply the text of S. 340. It would ensure that companies who receive assistance from the American taxpayer are required to cooperate with requests for information from the Government Accountability Office about how they used taxpayer money.
The GAO is supposed to be the “eyes and ears" of Congress-well it can’t do that job wearing blinders and ear plugs. So, I urge my colleagues to support Amendment #1020, to ensure that GAO has access to TARP recipients’ books and records.
Source: Ranking Member’s News
