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Cmte Financial Services (R)
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Bachus: Democrats Vote Once Again to Extend Taxpayer-Funded Bailouts

WASHINGTON, Sep 29 -

-  Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Spencer Bachus said the Democrats voted once again to extend taxpayer-funded bailouts by rejecting this week's YouCut submission, offered by Rep. Eric Paulsen (R-MN), that would permanently end TARP and the billions of dollars in programs that were created under its authority.

"Extending the taxpayer-funded bailouts is a clear violation of the intent of the TARP program and is a reinforcement of the fear Republicans have had that this pot of money would be too tempting for liberals in Congress who never met a bailout they didn't like. 

"While America continues to suffer from the job-killing agenda of the Democrat Majority, the financial system itself is slowly returning to normal.  TARP was designed to accomplish this goal, not to provide unemployment assistance and pay off mortgages or serve as a slush fund for Democrat proposals. 

"By failing to act on more than a dozen Republican proposals to end TARP and return all repayments, dividend payments, interest and un-used funds to the treasury, Democrats have created a bailout monster that will indeed live for years to come."         

Rep. Paulsen's Submission for YouCut

Terminate the TARP Program Prohibiting Any Additional Bailouts
Save taxpayers potentially several billion dollars over the next ten years

While the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is supposed to end on October 3rd, under a provision of the recently enacted financial regulation bill it is still possible for the government to make new bailouts through any program that was already in place on June 25, 2010. This could include additional commitments to AIG and / or additional commitments to the Administration's mortgage modification programs. In August it was estimated that spending from TARP will range between $4 billion and $7 billion a year between 2011 and 2014, mainly for the Administration's mortgage programs. Acting to terminate TARP now may reduce these expenditures.

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