Patrick McHenryChairman

WASHINGTON, October 1, 2010 -

-  Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Spencer Bachus issued the following statement regarding the Democrats' claim that the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) will end on October 3rd.

"The TARP program is alive and actively funding the Democrats' liberal agenda. While Americans want an end to TARP and all taxpayer-funded bailouts, Democrats are intent on continuing and creating permanent bailouts for their political allies.

"Last week, Republicans offered an amendment on the House floor to bring a real end to the TARP program. Unfortunately, House Democrats voted it down. Extending the taxpayer-funded bailouts is a clear violation of the intent of the TARP program and reinforces Republicans' fear that tapping this pot of money is simply too tempting for liberals in Congress who never met a bailout they did not like.

"The Administration has an obligation to shut down this program now and repay taxpayers. Anything short of this is a disservice to Americans."

NOTE: The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was originally passed in response to an extraordinary crisis in our financial markets in 2008, and Congress intended for taxpayers to be repaid once the crisis subsided.  The original TARP statute called for the program to expire on December 31, 2009, however, the Treasury Secretary was given the authority to extend the program to no later than October 3, 2010. The Obama Administration, against the wishes of House Republicans, chose to extend the bailout on December 9, 2009 for the full term of the authority. While the Democrats will claim TARP ends on October 3^rd, in reality the programs created through TARP will continue to operate without authorization for years, paid for by a taxpayer-funded slush fund.

Section 106(e) of EESA specifically allows the Treasury Secretary to continue to provide bailouts well beyond the official end of TARP and Chairman Barney Frank has committed to just that, stating during the final day of the Dodd-Frank conference on June 29, 2010,  "[t]he TARP is not ended by this [Act]...[t]here is some money left unobligated and I intend to press for effective programs to aid people; for instance, those who are unemployed."

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