090135: For Democratic Leaders, Transparency Means Hypocrisy

(CD Examiner Editorial) -- Oh, the sheer irony of Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Nancy Pelosi complaining that the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) lacks transparency. These three Democratic congressional leaders were among the most vocal in seconding President Bush's warning last fall that economic catastrophe was right around the corner if the administrationıs $700 billion TARP proposal wasnıt adopted as soon as possible. And Frank, Dodd and Pelosi were among those cheering loudest when Congress approved TARP over conservative objections that the bill handed Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson $700 billion to spend as he pleased, with barely a whiff of transparency or accountability in the bargain.

Let the record show that a Republican working group complained in September, to no avail, that the bill failed to "require participating firms to disclose to Treasury the value of their mortgage assets on their books." Sure enough, on Jan. 10 a congressionally mandated oversight panel harshly criticized Treasury, saying, "the panel still does not know what the banks are doing with taxpayer money." The reality is that Treasury has provided virtually no details on what it did with the first $350 billion in TARP funds because thatıs how Congress wrote the bill. And there was hardly a peep from the congressional leaders when Paulson decided Nov. 12 to change the TARP spending plan to the exact opposite of what Congress had previously approved.

It is particularly galling to hear Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, complain that "President Bush failed to be transparent with Americans about how their hard-earned dollars were being spent." This is the same Dodd who promised last July ­ last July - to make public all documents relating to a series of sweetheart loans he received from the Countrywide Financial, one of the biggest miscreants in the subprime mortgage debacle. Yet, 216 days later, Dodd still has released no papers.

Pelosi, meanwhile, pledged two years ago that she would give the American people the most transparent House in history, but a few days ago she rammed through the House new rules that are clearly designed to stifle dissent, while providing a misleading patina of openness. And Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committtee, is the same guy who a few years ago blocked and mocked accountability reforms recommended by President Bush and congressional Republicans for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Now the transparency trio are cheering release of the second $350 billion in TARP funds and patting themselves on the back for mandating more transparency in how the incoming Obama administration spends the money. The only transparency here is the hypocritical spinning by Frank, Dodd and Pelosi.

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