Hatch To Secretary Paulson: Show Me The Results

Press Release

Before voting to release the remaining $350 billion installment to jumpstart the ailing economy, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) wants the Bush administration to show results from the initial cash outlay in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

In a Jan. 7 letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Utah's senior senator asked him to outline how the first $350 billion installment was used and how the remaining money would be spent by participating institutions.

"If these institutions do not disclose how the allocated funding will be used to restore liquidity in our economic system, I believe we are undermining the intent of this law and the trust of the American people and cannot support allocating the remaining $350 billion," Hatch, a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, warned Paulson in the letter.

Hatch's letter to Paulson comes amid widespread anger from American taxpayers about how the first chunk of the $700 billion contained in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act is being used and the lack of transparency involved in the process. Some banks that received TARP assistance are reportedly refusing to account for what they have done with the money.

"In your testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on September 23, 2008, you stated that the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) must ‘protect the taxpayer to the maximum extent possible, and include provisions that ensure transparency and oversight,'" Hatch stated in the letter. "Today, the Treasury Department has committed most of the initial $350 billion allotment of the $700 billion authorized under the law, and nearly 115 financial institutions from across the country have participated in the program. However, Treasury has yet to explain to the American people how this money is being used by the participating institutions. I strongly believe that this was not the intent of Congress, nor do I believe that it was your intent when this legislation was developed."

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