Herb Kohl: “the Senate is voting to release the final $350 billion of funds to the Department of Treasury for the Troubled Asset…”

“the Senate is voting to release the final $350 billion of funds to the Department of Treasury for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, TARP, a move I reluctantly supported. Since Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, the public and elected officials have become increasingly frustrated with how the Treasury Department implemented the TARP. The Treasury has implemented little to no oversight, required no transparency from banks receiving funds and has done very little to stem the rising foreclosure problem. A total of 87 financial institutions have received funds from the Treasury Department, including four from Wisconsin. When I asked the Wisconsin banks to show me how they used the Treasury funds they were happy to share how they were combating the financial crisis. For example, Associated Banc-Corp increased their mortgage loan activity by 20 percent. Marshall and Ilsey implemented a 90-day foreclosure moratorium in order to provide assistance to at-risk homeowners. These banks are an example of how the TARP program is injecting credit back into the market. Unfortunately, not every bank is following their example. The current administration has failed to create regulations to monitor the funds and ensure that the taxpayer dollars are being used appropriately to unfreeze the credit markets and assist at-risk homeowners.”