House denies release of TARP funds, but Senate says “OK”
By JR Hoeft | Saturday, January 24th, 2009 | PolicyOn Thursday, the House of Representatives voted in favor of H.J. Res. 3. This resolution is meant to block the release of the $350B remaining for the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). From Virginia, Reps. Wittman, Nye, Scott, Forbes, Perriello, Goodlatte, Cantor, Wolf, and Connolly voted in favor of the measure. Rep. Moran voted against it, along with 150 of his Democratic colleagues. Rep. Boucher took a walk did not vote due to the passing of his mother.
“The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act was created with a mechanism that would allow Congress to block the release of the second half of the funds if we felt the program was either mismanaged or inefficient. As we’ve seen with the first $350 billion released through the TARP, there has been a severe lack of transparency and accountability in how the funds are being used. We also continue to see that the model is not working – we still face a deteriorating economy, months after the initial funds have been spent,” said Forbes. “Taxpayers deserve diligent and responsible use of their dollars, and Congress has a responsibility to block the release of the remaining bailout funds to prevent further wasting of taxpayer dollars.”
But voting in favor of this resolution may be of little consequence.
The Senate did NOT pass their version of the law blocking the release of the funds, and they will not likely consider HJR3. Both Senators Webb and Warner voted against the resolution.
This means that the pathway to the release of the funds to the Secretary of Treasury on Jan. 27 is wide open.
Considering that the guy in charge of the money is the same guy who couldn’t pay his taxes and allowed Lehman Brothers to tank while doling out bailout packages to others…color me not so confident.
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Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
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6 Responses to "House denies release of TARP funds, but Senate says “OK”"
I’m also worried about Obama’s stimulus plan after hearing on the Rachel Maddow show that only 18% of the plan–150 billion–is for infrasttucture. Less than 8% is for transportation–roads and bridges.
The economic advisor that Obama chose–Larry Summers-is seriously aligned with the financial folks who got us into this mess and Summers HATES infrastructure. Summers wants to spend the money like it was spent in the first batch that was wasted in the financial sector….Summers wants a consumer driven recovery and this is NOT going to happen.
Is Obama going to compromise what he knows is right in order to go along with the powerfull bankers and wall street folks that got us into this mess?
Hopefully enough Americans will contact the White House AND the Senate and demand that ONLY the infrastructure part of this stimulus package gets passed and the rest of the money will be available for wisely chosen remedies. The House of Representatives have voted to Block the rest of the funds going to the financial sector with no strings attached. Why is the Senate once again selling us out?
I think MANY of us are concerned about the stimulus. We will have to continue to work hard to make sure our voices are heard above those wealthy powerful financial sector elitists that have gotten us into this horrible mess.
Buzz….Buzz…
mosquito,
I detect some confusion on your part. The TARP funds are separate and apart from Obama’s proposed stimulus package.
The primary purpose of the TARP funds is to rescue the financial sector.
I think that it is a bit unsympathetic to say that Rep. Boucher “took a walk.” His mother passed away on Wednesday, and he was granted a leave of absence for the rest of the week. My thoughts and prayers remain with him and his family during this difficult time.
David,
The beauty of blogs is the ability to spread information and correct the record.
As you probably suspected, I was completely unaware of the circumstances.
My deepest condolences to Rep. Boucher and his family.
Why is it called TARP? The government buys stock in banks, not assets. If you watched “What Matters” the other night you would have seen the quotes from CEO’s of banks that got “TARP” money. They said the arent going to lend a dime, they are going to hold it till the crisis is sorted out and then buy up and the devauled assets at a bargin. This is complete and utter corruption, these people need to be taken out back and shot. If you dont think that the people in charge knew that this is exactly what banks would do then you are crazy. The Illuminati of this country who control our government knew that all these houses and companies would go under, the banks who got the TARP would be able to buy them at bargin prices and the wealth would be even more solidified. The same thing happened after/during the great depression, which if you remember was started when a group of bankers who were all talking to one another decided to call in all their margin loans on the same day(s). Concerted effort to destroy the economy and give all the wealth from the people who created it to the people who were smart enough to figure out how to steal it.
Oh and;
Illuminati – the group of people in this country who are at the top echelons of business, government, and finance who control virtually everything and meet through groups such as the round tables, CFR, tri-lateral coalition, bilderberger group, etc.
[...] end bailouts for Wall Street banks. Also, because he voted with the majority in January 2009 on a failed attempt to stop the release of TARP, he counts that as [...]
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