Cliff Stearns: “I rise today to address the troubling results of a report that was just released last Friday by the Congressional…”

“I rise today to address the troubling results of a report that was just released last Friday by the Congressional Oversight Panel on the Troubled Asset Relief Program, TARP. In summary, the 50-page report indicates that our United States Treasury has overpaid by about $78 billion in order to implement the largest private sector bailout in American history. In fact, the study directly states that, ``Treasury paid substantially more for the assets it purchased than their current market value.'' How much more? Our Treasury purchased assets worth about $178 billion for $254 billion. That is a direct and unnecessary transfer of our taxpayer dollars to private financial institutions that utilize reckless investment strategies. Thus, the Treasury has essentially shortchanged taxpayers to the tune of $78 billion and has not acted as a good steward of our taxpayers' funds. To be sure, former Secretary Paulson looked the American people in the eye and assured us that the taxpayer investment in the TARP program was sound, and we would be given full value in return for our investment. In a public statement to the American people in October, Paulson said of the TARP program, ``This is an investment, not an expenditure, and there is no reason to expect the program will cost taxpayers anything.'' Unfortunately, Paulson's statement couldn't be further from the truth. The first $350 billion in TARP funds was spent in haste, and we have nothing to show for it but waste.”