[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 177 (Wednesday, December 2, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H13405-H13408]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION ACT OF 2008 AMENDMENT

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 1242) to amend the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 
2008 to provide for additional monitoring and accountability of the 
Troubled Assets Relief Program, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 1242

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. ADDITIONAL MONITORING AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE 
                   TROUBLED ASSET RELIEF PROGRAM.

       Section 114 of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 
     2008 (12 U.S.C. 5224) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following new subsection:
       ``(c) Additional Monitoring and Accountability.--
       ``(1) Electronic database.--
       ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall establish an 
     electronic database to monitor the use of funds distributed 
     under this title.
       ``(B) Sources of data.--The database established under 
     subparagraph (A) shall include data from the following 
     sources, to the extent such data is available, usable, and 
     relevant to determining the effectiveness of the Troubled 
     Asset Relief Program:
       ``(i) Regulatory data from any government source.
       ``(ii) Filing data from any government agency receiving 
     regular and structured filings.
       ``(iii) Public records.
       ``(iv) News filings, press releases, and other forms of 
     publicly available data.
       ``(v) Data collected under subparagraph (C)(v).
       ``(vi) All other information that is required to be 
     reported under this title by institutions receiving financial 
     assistance or procurement contracts under this title.
       ``(C) Administration and use of database.--The Secretary 
     shall--
       ``(i) ensure that the database uses accurate data 
     structures and taxonomies to allow for easy cross-
     referencing, compiling, and reporting of numerous data 
     elements;
       ``(ii) ensure that the database provides for filtering of 
     data content to allow users to screen for the events most 
     relevant to identifying waste, fraud, and abuse, such as 
     management changes and material corporate events;
       ``(iii) ensure that the database provides geospatial 
     analysis capabilities;
       ``(iv) make the database available to the Comptroller 
     General of the United States and to the Special Inspector 
     General and the Congressional Oversight Panel established 
     under sections 121 and 125, respectively, to provide them 
     with access to current information on the status of the funds 
     distributed under this title, including funds distributed 
     through procurement contracts;
       ``(v) collect from each Federal agency on at least a daily 
     basis all data that is relevant to determining the 
     effectiveness of the Troubled Asset Relief Program in 
     stimulating prudent lending and strengthening bank capital, 
     including regulatory filings and data generated by the use of 
     internal models, financial models, and analytics; and
       ``(vi) compare the data in the database with other 
     appropriate data to identify activities inconsistent with the 
     goals of this title.
       ``(2) Meeting tarp goals.--
       ``(A) Determination by secretary; recommendations.--If the 
     Secretary determines that a recipient's use of funds 
     distributed under this title is not meeting the goals of this 
     title, the Secretary shall, in coordination with the 
     appropriate Federal agencies, develop recommendations for 
     better meeting such goals, and such agencies shall provide 
     such recommendations to such recipient.
       ``(B) Future uses of funds.--If the Secretary determines 
     that the use of funds described in subparagraph (A) does not 
     meet the goals of this title within a reasonable time after 
     the recommendations communicated under such subparagraph, the 
     Secretary shall modify the permitted uses of funds 
     distributed under this title to avoid similar problems in the 
     future.

[[Page H13406]]

       ``(3) Public access to database.--The Secretary shall, 
     subject to paragraph (4), adopt rules and procedures for 
     public access to the database created by this subsection.
       ``(4) Prohibition against disclosure of certain 
     information.--
       ``(A) Prohibition.--A person or entity shall not disclose 
     to the public information collected under this subsection 
     that is prohibited from disclosure by any Federal or State 
     law or regulation or by private contract or that is 
     considered to be proprietary.
       ``(B) Protection of information.--The Secretary shall 
     implement reasonable measures to prevent the disclosure of 
     information in violation of subparagraph (A).
       ``(C) Criminal liability for disclosure.--A Federal officer 
     or employee, or a contractor of any Federal agency or 
     employee of such contractor, who intentionally discloses to 
     the public or intentionally causes to be disclosed to the 
     public information prohibited from disclosure by subparagraph 
     (A), knowing that such information is prohibited from 
     disclosure, shall be fined under title 18, United States 
     Code, or imprisoned for not more than 1 year, or both.
       ``(5) Regulations and procedures.--The Secretary shall, in 
     consultation with the appropriate Federal agencies, 
     promulgate regulations and establish any other procedures 
     necessary to carry out this subsection.
       ``(6) Implementation deadlines.--
       ``(A) Contract services.--Not later than 30 days after the 
     date of the enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall 
     issue a request for proposal and award contract services as 
     required by this subsection.
       ``(B) Operation of database.--The Secretary shall ensure 
     that the database described in paragraph (1)(A) is 
     operational not later than 180 days after the date of the 
     enactment of this subsection.''.

     SEC. 2. REDUCING TARP FUNDS TO OFFSET COSTS OF PROGRAM 
                   CHANGES.

       Section 115(a)(3) of the Emergency Economic Stabilization 
     Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. 5225(a)(3)) is amended by striking 
     ``$700,000,000,000, as such amount is reduced by 
     $1,259,000,000,, as such amount is reduced by $1,244,000,000, 
     outstanding at any one time'' and inserting 
     ``$700,000,000,000, as such amount is reduced by 
     $1,293,000,000, outstanding at any one time''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
New York (Mrs. Maloney) and the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Campbell) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from New York.


                             General Leave

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks on this legislation and to insert additional material.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may 
consume.
  I rise in strong support of H.R. 1242, the TARP Accountability and 
Disclosure Act of 2009. This bill would require the Department of the 
Treasury to establish an electronic database for tracking all TARP 
funds. The bill would create a database available to the public on the 
Internet that will track in real time the spending of funds in the 
Federal Government's Troubled Asset Relief Program called TARP. If UPS 
can track millions of packages clear across the world on any continent 
at any time, we can certainly track where $700 billion in taxpayers' 
money has gone. In fact, we have a duty to do so.
  When TARP began, the Treasury Department never required the financial 
institutions it funded to explain what they did with the money. And 
over a year later, we still do not know. It is past time for us to have 
a system so that the American people can tell in real time, enhancing 
its value as a regulatory tool and also as a preventative oversight 
tool. Taxpayers have a right to know how their tax dollars are being 
used. I believe that in order to ensure transparency, we should require 
the use of the technological tools that are available today.
  Currently, TARP data are presented in filings in over 25 different 
agencies, including filings with the Securities and Exchange 
Commission, Web sites, Federal Reserve registration data, the FDIC 
data, over-the-counter trades, and Commodities Futures Trading 
Commission data. The data sources are not only housed in different 
agencies but are in incompatible systems and formats, making the 
material unusable. These agencies are unable to share the data with 
each other and to learn from it.
  The bill, which I have coauthored with Representative Peter King and 
42 of my colleagues, requires all relevant TARP data, including 
regulatory filings and public records, to be collected by the 
Department of the Treasury and put in a consistent standardized format 
so that TARP funds will be transparent and traceable. This bill would 
also provide the ability to monitor inconsistencies that may indicate 
waste, fraud, and abuse at both the corporate and individual officer 
levels. By using tools that currently exist, individual filings and 
transactions can be pulled together to create a single view of an 
institution and provide better management and regulatory oversight.
  The basic data elements would include but not be limited to the 
following: the capture and standardization of every transaction the 
institution is involved with, wherever possible; news releases, press 
releases and other sources of public data; counterparty filings; 
securities transactions; UCC filings in certain cases; and transaction 
data, including mortgages, debt issuance, and fund participation.
  In the simplest terms, my bill allows the question to be answered, 
Where has the money gone? And this is a question that pundits and 
taxpayers ask every single day. Recently, Elizabeth Warren, who is one 
of the oversight regulators, stated in testimony that she has no idea 
where the TARP money is. This bill would change this. This would put 
safeguards in to ensure that proprietary information about financial 
services companies is not disclosed, and this bill does not put any 
additional burden on industry. It merely puts in a usable form 
information that is already required by regulators.
  There is broad support for this bill from close to 40 groups from 
across the political field, including the Center for Democracy and 
Technology, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the NAACP, and the Heritage 
Foundation.
  I would like to place into the Record the list of supporters from 
respective organizations.

       Groups that have publicly endorsed the bill (or if a 
     501c(3) support the ``idea or policy goals'' of the 
     legislation since they cannot directly support a specific 
     bill):
       United States Chamber of Commerce; Center for Democracy and 
     Technology; OMB Watch; Project On Government Oversight; 
     Taxpayers for Common Sense; OpenTheGovernment.org; Institute 
     for Policy Innovation; Competitive Enterprise Institute; 
     NAACP; Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund 
     (MALDEF).
       National Puerto Rican Coalition (NPRC); The Hispanic 
     Federation; Information Technology Industry Council; Heritage 
     Foundation; Americans for Tax Reform; Center for Fiscal 
     Accountability; 60 Plus Association; Alabama Policy 
     Institute; American Shareholders Association; Americans for 
     Limited Government.
       Americans for Prosperity; Caesar Rodney Institute; Center 
     for Individual Freedom; Center-Right Coalition of Florida; 
     Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending & Taxes; Council for 
     Citizens Against Government Waste; Grassroot Institute of 
     Hawaii; Illinois Alliance for Growth; Illinois Policy 
     Institute; Institute for Liberty.
       Maine Heritage Policy Center; Mississippi Center for Public 
     Policy; National Taxpayers Union; Oklahoma Council of Public 
     Affairs, Inc.; Pelican Institute for Public Policy; Pioneer 
     Institute for Public Policy Research; Rhode Island Tea Party; 
     Small Business Hawaii; The Aarons Company; Kentucky Progress; 
     Citizens' Voice for Property Owners.

  As we have seen from this time last year, the lack of transparency in 
terms of how the funds are spent makes this bill necessary. The 
American people, Members of Congress, and regulators are demanding 
transparency. It is time that we gave it to them. They are entitled to 
it.
  I would like to thank Members on the other side of the aisle, Mr. 
King and others, who have been supportive, and particularly Chairman 
Frank for his leadership and Steny Hoyer for his support. I urge my 
colleagues to support it. It's past time for us to have a system so 
that the American people can tell in real time how their tax dollars 
are being used. I would add that I also believe that it would build 
confidence in the system, hopefully a confidence that will be managed 
in an appropriate way.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CAMPBELL. I yield myself as much time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise to support this bipartisan bill authored by the 
lady from New York and the gentleman from New York (Mr. King). You 
know, this bill is really pretty simple, and it's really

[[Page H13407]]

just about transparency, disclosure and sunshine. Last year, $700 
billion of taxpayer money was made available in order to provide a 
rescue plan for the financial system, which was troubled at that time. 
We all know that much of this money has gone out, but what we don't 
really know is what it has gone to do, what it is actually being used 
for, where it is being employed.
  Now there are those who will say that, well, because there are 
dollars, if you put dollars into a given financial institution, they're 
fungible and you don't really know which dollar went to what, and I 
understand that that argument has some legitimacy. But the point of 
this bill is, Let's disclose and let's make available what we do know. 
There is a lot of information out there, as the gentlelady from New 
York suggested, which is in multiple agencies and multiple places, and 
it's just simply not available to Members of the House or to Members of 
Congress so that we can make an effective determination of whether this 
money has, is, and will be used in a manner consistent with its 
original objective which was to stabilize the financial system.
  This bill, what it really does is, as it says, to make available, 
ongoing, continuous and close to real-time updates of the status of 
funds distributed through a standardized electronic database. That's 
something which technology today enables us to do, and it's something 
which the taxpayers and the Members of Congress have the right to see 
in order to better evaluate the use of these funds. So I stand in 
support of this bill.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I would just 
like to say that the program's effectiveness was testified in support 
of by economist Mark Zandi, who said, While TARP has not been a 
universal success, it has been instrumental to the stabilization of the 
financial system and bringing an end to the credit recession, but there 
are still serious criticisms of the program that should give us concern 
about its effectiveness, its cost, and how it can be improved. This 
bill that brings online transparency would move us in that right 
direction.
  I am strongly in support of it, as well as many of my colleagues.
  Having no further speakers, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. KING of New York. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H.R. 
1242, the TARP Accountability and Disclosure Act. As the lead 
Republican sponsor of this legislation, I have worked closely with 
Representatives Maloney and Cantor as well as Financial Services 
Committee Chairman Frank and Ranking Member Bachus  to bring this 
important bill to the House floor.
  The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, EESA, created the Troubled 
Assets Relief Program, TARP, which authorized the Treasury Department 
to buy $700 billion worth of troubled assets from financial 
institutions. This money has also been used by Treasury to purchase 
preferred stock from banks and other financially troubled companies, 
such as AIG, General Motors, and Chrysler, and in support of programs 
such as the Targeted Investment Program, Asset Guarantee Program, and 
Consumer and Business Lending Initiative Investment Program to name a 
few. While Congress did subsequently place additional conditions on how 
it could be spent, it has been rather difficult to follow and account 
for this vast amount of money.
  It is also important that not only our government but also the 
American People know exactly where their taxpayer dollars are going for 
programs such as TARP. The TARP Accountability and Disclosure Act 
requires the creation of a database system within the Department of 
Treasury and provides for additional monitoring and accountability that 
will provide true transparency of how the TARP funds are used. This 
system would serve as an efficient mechanism for oversight, audits, and 
investigations. H.R. 1242 will also require that this database be made 
publicly available, allow for the daily collection of information and 
for the filtering of data content. Finally, it will prohibit the 
disclosure of information that would already be prohibited by any 
federal or state law or regulation including proprietary information.
  So, why is this necessary? Well, not only is this information 
reported to over 25 different federal agencies, including the SEC, 
Federal Reserve, FDIC, and Commodities Futures Trading Commission, but 
the data is located in various systems and formats that are 
incompatible with one another. The TARP Accountability and Disclosure 
Act would require all relevant TARP data collected be put in a single 
standardized format so these funds will be transparent and traceable.
  I am pleased to report that this legislation is supported by many 
organizations including the Chamber of Commerce, the Center for 
Democracy and Technology, OMB Watch, Taxpayers for Common Sense, 
Heritage Foundation, Americans for Tax Reform, and the NAACP.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I stand here today in support 
of H.R. 1242, which amends the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 
2008 to provide for additional monitoring and accountability of the 
Troubled Assets Relief Program, TARP. I support this legislation 
because I believe that increased accountability will enhance the 
effectiveness of the TARP funds.
  I would like to first thank my colleague, Congresswoman Carolyn 
Maloney, for introducing this valuable piece of legislation. The TARP 
funds are designated for financial institutions that have complex 
internal systems and handle a large volume of information from various 
sources. The nature of the TARP fund recipients makes understanding how 
TARP funds are used difficult. Moreover, data is currently being 
submitted in filings to many agencies and databases, including the 
Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Federal Reserve, the Fed, 
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, FDIC, Commodities Futures 
Trading Commission, and Over the Counter Trade data. That the data is 
housed in separate agencies and in distinct formats makes it difficult 
to oversee and interpret the usage data.
  H.R. 1242 will require the Treasury Secretary to create a database 
that will facilitate the monitoring of TARP funds. The bill provides 
guidance to the Secretary for the structure of the database and what 
data should be included. The information collected by the database will 
be collected on a daily basis and reviewed to ensure compliance with 
the Emergence Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Data submitted by 
TARP recipients will be combined with third party data such as indexes, 
media reports, press releases, and non-governmental financial 
information to ensure that the information available is comprehensive. 
The database will be required to have accurate data structures to allow 
for cross-referencing, filtering of data content, and geospatial 
analysis capabilities. The database must be made available to oversight 
bodies such as the Special Inspector General, the TARP Oversight Panel, 
the Government Accountability Office, GAO, and law enforcement. 
Additionally, the Secretary of the Treasury must provide the public 
access to the database, while protecting information that is prohibited 
from disclosure under current law. Importantly, this legislation begins 
the implementation of these measures soon after the enactment, allowing 
for oversight to begin promptly.
  Mr. Speaker, the list and diversity of organizations that support 
this legislation is long. The public demands accountability with 
regards to taxpayer dollars and this bill provides the necessary 
reforms to ensure that TARP funds are used properly. The dynamic 
database outlined by this legislation provides a valuable tool for 
oversight. By establishing a mechanism for oversight and investigative 
agencies to review TARP fund usage, we are enhancing accountability.
  Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1242, 
which would provide additional and necessary monitoring of Troubled 
Asset Relief Program funds.
  H.R. 1242 would create a database to easily track the status of 
distributed funds, making it easier for those overseeing the program to 
spot inconsistencies in spending and ensure the most effective use of 
the funding. It would also require the Treasury Department to adjust 
the future use of TARP funds if its intended goals are not being met.
  Along with my constituents, I am deeply disappointed that the past 
administration did not adequately track how taxpayer money was spent to 
ensure that banks were using it for the intended purposes. Earlier this 
year, I was pleased to vote for legislation that would have ensured 
TARP funding was spent responsibly and transparently in an effort to 
get the economy back on track. Unfortunately, this measure was not 
taken up by the Senate.
  In order to stabilize our economy and get credit flowing again to 
families and small businesses, we need to fundamentally change the 
practices of the Troubled Assets Relief Program. By strengthening 
accountability and increasing transparency, this measure ensures that 
public resources are being spent correctly and wisely. I urge my 
colleagues to vote for this measure.
  Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1242, as amended.

[[Page H13408]]

  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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