|  | | 2008 News and Press Releases | | |
HEADLINE NEWS:
House Questions Spending of Bailout Money
Diana B. Henriques
The New York Times. December 11, 2008
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EXCERPT: A Congressional hearing delivered a short “to-do” list on Wednesday morning to the Treasury department about its handling of the nation’s financial rescue plan: First, follow the money. Second, fight more aggressively against the rising tide of home foreclosures. Specifically, the lawmakers insisted that the Treasury do more to monitor what banks do with federal money that they receive, and tie more strings to that capital to make sure it is used to provide needed credit to homeowners, small businesses and consumers. And they demanded that Treasury pay more attention to developing a plan to prevent foreclosures that can be applied broadly and quickly. […] “You have done nothing,” said Representative Maxine Waters, a Democrat of California. “What is your resistance to helping homeowners stay in their homes?” This criticism fell largely on Neel T. Kashkari, the Treasury’s interim assistant secretary for financial stability, who came under the fiercest questioning. Mr. Kashkari, always polite, nevertheless stoutly defended the work the department had done so far to stabilize the financial system, noting that the nation had avoided a major bank failure and credit markets had shown some improvements. “We are in an unprecedented period and market events are moving rapidly and unpredictably,” he told the panel. “People often ask, How do we know our program is working? First, we did not allow the financial system to collapse. That is the most direct, important information. Second, the system is fundamentally more stable than it was.” While he said Treasury was working with bank regulators to address foreclosures, he noted that the preservation of financial stability was not an unrelated achievement. “Imagine how many foreclosures we would have had if we’d allowed the financial system to collapse,” he said. |
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