Treasury Has Pledged More Rescue Funds Than Authorized

[DogPoundPup]

Source: Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON -- The Treasury Department has committed nearly $10 billion more than the $350 billion Congress has authorized to date for the financial-sector rescue package, which could constrain how the incoming Obama administration deploys the rest of the fund.

Treasury's announcement Monday that it is directing $6 billion to auto-finance company GMAC LLC brought to $358.4 billion the total funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program that have been pledged to a variety of programs and guarantees. That suggests Treasury is tapping into the second half of the $700 billion set aside in October before it has been released by Congress.

"They are pushing the envelope here," said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), a critic of the bailout. "What they are trying to do is create a situation to put pressure on Obama and the Congress to provide the next $350 billion."

Under the legislation that approved the bailout funds, Treasury received $350 billion and was required to request access to the rest by providing a detailed plan of how the money would be spent. The goal was to provide a check for lawmakers wary about Treasury's broad authority under the legislation.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123068292824744097.html?mod=rss_Politics_And_Policy

[high density]

1. No more money to the banks unless they start making loans again

Too much of this money is being used to pay dividends to shareholders or to fund acquisitions.

[Poll_Blind]

2. I find little facts like this astounding- for if these acts were committed by you or I we would..

...surely be in shackles because of it.

PB

[MichiganVote]

3. Shocking! ......er, it would have been 8 years ago.....(eye:roll)

[whistle]

4. $12 trillion pledged by U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve and Bush

...on top of the nearly $13.0 trillion in National debt...W O W ! ! ! !

[truedelphi]

7. A lot of people don't undstand that the 770 billion is only

The iing on a hug unaffordable cake.

[Zenlitened]

5. At some point before Jan. 20, the Bush-Cheney Gang will walk into your house...

... and steal your silverware.

Maybe your first-born, too.

Or a kidney. You don't really need *both* of them.

[Igel]

6. Too early to tell.

After just reading what you excerpted, the first thought through my mind was (a) that they hadn't disbursed anywhere near to all the money, so there was a still a lot of leeway (presumably all that's been committed will be needed ... but only presumably). The second thought was (b) that these are loans, and for all we know some covered short-term cash-flow crunches and is expected to be repaid before all of the money that's been committed gets disbursed.

A further possibility is (c) that some commitments are contingent, and there's little likelihood of the contingencies coming to pass, or (d) that the commitments aren't iron-clad, but reversible.

Then I read the article and saw (a) was indeed covered, while presuming, at least for the sake of argument, that (b) won't happen, (c) isn't the case, and, for (d), that the commitments are iron-clad. Then again, when writing at a middle-school level it's hard to actually cover all the possibilities.