McCaskill, Grassley Sponsor Bill to Strengthen Oversight

U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) today moved to tighten government oversight of the financial rescue plan approved by Congress in October. The senators introduced a bill that would put in place provisions to better monitor how the $700 billion dollars are spent by increasing the power and authority of the Special Inspector General created to oversee the program.

The law was written based on the plan spelled out by the Treasury Department at the time, to buy up troubled, toxic assets. Now that the Treasury plan has changed, the authority of the Special Inspector General needs to be broadened. The McCaskill-Grassley bill will provide the necessary fixes to ensure there is strong oversight in place.

“We voted on this measure thinking there would be responsible oversight of how the tax dollars are being spent,” McCaskill said. “Instead, almost half the money has been doled out but no one is watching to make sure that the government is spending it wisely. We need to fix this before another cent is spent unsupervised.”

“The stronger the watchdog, the better, given the enormous stakes for the taxpayers with this bailout package. Congress, the current administration and the new administration need to take every step possible to make sure the sensibilities of Main Street are not violated as the $700 billion is used,” Grassley said.

The legislation will:

Give the IG temporary hiring power. This will allow the IG to quickly begin hiring staff without going thorough the normal civil service process which could cause a lengthy delay in beginning oversight work. The temporary hiring power is modeled after the provisions created for the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) and will only last for six months.

Expand the authority of the IG to cover any and all action conducted as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, including assistance to homeowners and foreclosure mitigation efforts. Under the current language of the law, the IG’s authority would cover only two sections of the relief program.

The senators are hopeful the legislation will pass the Senate unanimously before Congress recesses for the year. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) are co-sponsors.