[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 183 (Monday, December 8, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S10799]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  TARP

  Mr. WEBB. Mr. President, I rise to talk about our foreign policy. 
Before doing so, I wish to point out that I have spent the last 2 hours 
presiding and listening to a number of very strong statements with 
respect to the automobile bailout and also the proposal that there be 
some action to limit the next tranche of $300 billion to come on the 
TARP program. I associate myself with the remarks of the Senator from 
North Dakota on those issues. We had a pretty hard vote on October 1 
with respect to the TARP program. I was among the overwhelming majority 
of people in the Senate who voted to go ahead with this program, after 
the assurances of this administration and the people who had been 
negotiating on our behalf about the danger that the world economy was 
in, the prospect of a cataclysmic effect if we did not do something.
  I am going to look very hard at this next tranche. We should all 
recall that the program that was voted to go forward was a program that 
was going to address the situation of toxic assets. The concern that I 
and many others had about giving one individual the authority in the 
executive branch to use these funds in a way that did not have a 
substantial oversight was borne out over what has happened. There is a 
very high bar that will go forward before I personally would vote in 
favor of continuing to allow the Secretary of the Treasury in an 
outgoing administration to be dispensing these types of funds so close 
to the approach of a new administration.

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