But after receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers,
the nation's largest banks say
they can't track exactly how they're spending the money
or
they simply refuse to discuss it.

"We've lent some of it. We've not lent some of it. We've not given any accounting of, 'Here's how we're doing it,'" said Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, which received $25 billion in emergency bailout money. "We have not disclosed that to the public. We're declining to."

The Associated Press contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money and asked four questions:
How much has been spent?
What was it spent on?
How much is being held in savings,
and what's the plan for the rest?

None of the banks provided specific answers.

"We're not providing dollar-in, dollar-out tracking," said Barry Koling, a spokesman for Atlanta, Ga.-based SunTrust Banks Inc., which got $3.5 billion in taxpayer dollars.

Some banks said they simply didn't know where the money was going.

"We manage our capital in its aggregate," said Regions Financial Corp. spokesman Tim Deighton, who said the Birmingham, Ala.-based company is not tracking how it is spending the $3.5 billion it received as part of the financial bailout.

The answers highlight the secrecy surrounding the Troubled Assets Relief Program, which earmarked $700 billion — about the size of the Netherlands' economy — to help rescue the financial industry. The Treasury Department has been using the money to buy stock in U.S. banks, hoping that the sudden inflow of cash will get banks to start lending money.
There has been no accounting of how banks spend that money. Lawmakers summoned bank executives to Capitol Hill last month and implored them to lend the money — not to hoard it or spend it on corporate bonuses, junkets or to buy other banks. But there is no process in place to make sure that's happening and there are no consequences for banks who don't comply.

"It is entirely appropriate for the American people to know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent in private industry," said Elizabeth Warren, the top congressional watchdog overseeing the financial bailout.

But, at least for now, there's no way for taxpayers to find that out.

Pressured by the Bush administration to approve the money quickly, Congress attached nearly no strings on the $700 billion bailout in October. And the Treasury Department, which doles out the money, never asked banks how it would be spent.

"Those are legitimate questions that should have been asked on Day One," said Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., a House Financial Services Committee member who opposed the bailout as it was rushed through Congress. "Where is the money going to go to? How is it going to be spent? When are we going to get a record on it?"

Nearly every bank AP questioned — including Citibank and Bank of America, two of the largest recipients of bailout money — responded with generic public relations statements explaining that the money was being used to strengthen balance sheets and continue making loans to ease the credit crisis.

A few banks described company-specific programs, such as JPMorgan Chase's plan to lend $5 billion to nonprofit and health care companies next year. Richard Becker, senior vice president of Wisconsin-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp., said the $1.75 billion in bailout money allowed the bank to temporarily stop foreclosing on homes.

But
no bank provided even the most basic accounting
for the federal money.

"We're choosing not to disclose that,"
said Kevin Heine,
spokesman for Bank of New York Mellon,
which received about $3 billion.

Others said the money couldn't be tracked.
Bob Denham, a spokesman for North Carolina-based BB&T Corp., said the bailout money "doesn't have its own bucket." But he said taxpayer money wasn't used in the bank's recent purchase of a Florida insurance company.
Asked how he could be sure,
since the money wasn't being tracked,
Denham said the bank would have made that deal regardless.

Others, such as Morgan Stanley spokeswoman Carissa Ramirez, offered to discuss the matter with reporters on condition of anonymity. When AP refused, Ramirez sent an e-mail saying: "We are going to decline to comment on your story."

Most banks wouldn't say why they were keeping the details secret.

"We're not sharing any other details. We're just not at this time," said Wendy Walker, a spokeswoman for Dallas-based Comerica Inc., which received $2.25 billion from the government.

Heine, the New York Mellon Corp. spokesman who said he wouldn't share spending specifics, added:
"I just would prefer
if you wouldn't say that we're not going to discuss those details."

The banks which came closest to answering the questions were those, such as U.S. Bancorp and Huntington Bancshares Inc., that only recently received the money and have yet to spend it. But neither provided anything more than a generic summary of how the money would be spent.

Lawmakers say they want to tighten restrictions on the remaining, yet-to-be-released $350 billion block of bailout money before more cash is handed out.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the department is trying to step up its monitoring of bank spending.

"What we've been doing here is moving, I think, with lightning speed to put necessary programs in place, to develop them, implement them, and then we need to monitor them while we're doing this," Paulson said at a recent forum in New York. "So we're building this organization as we're going."

Warren, the congressional watchdog appointed by Democrats, said her oversight panel will try to force the banks to say where they've spent the money.

"It would take a lot of nerve not to give answers," she said.

But Warren said she's surprised she even has to ask.

"If the appropriate restrictions were put on the money to begin with,
if the appropriate transparency was in place,
then we wouldn't be in a position where you're trying to call every recipient and get the basic information
that should already
be in
public documents,"
she said.

Garrett, the New Jersey congressman,
said the nation might never get a clear answer
on where
hundreds of billions
of dollars
went.

"A year or two ago,
when we talked about spending
$100 million for a bridge to nowhere,
that was considered a scandal," he said.

Associated Press writers Stevenson Jacobs in New York and Christopher S. Rugaber and Daniel Wagner in Washington contributed to this report.
Senate bill cracks down on bailout recipients
WASHINGTON – One of the first orders of business for the new Congress next month will be making sure that banks and other firms that received some of the $700 billion economic bailout reveal how they are spending it.
The Senate did not take up the legislation this year, and the sponsors have long said they plan to pursue it when the 111th Congress convenes Jan. 6.
They announced a "reintroduction" of it on Tuesday — a day after The Associated Press reported that the nation's largest banks say they can't track exactly how they're spending the money or simply refuse to discuss it."
At present, we don't know whether these companies are using these funds to fly on private jets, attend lavish conferences or lobby Congress," Feinstein said in a statement.
Snowe said the bill would ensure that taxpayer money would only be used for the intended purposes: to shore up the nation's financial institutions and other firms during a wide-reaching economic recession.
Lawmakers say they want to tighten restrictions on the remaining, yet-to-be-released $350 billion block of bailout money before more cash is handed out. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the department is trying to step up its monitoring of bank spending.
SEN. COLLINS INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO STRENGTHEN FINANCIAL REGULATION AND OVERSIGHT
In a letter sent Tuesday to Paulson, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she joined those Americans who were "astonished and outraged" that banks were not explaining how the money was being spent.
"This lack of transparency and accountability is deeply troubling," Collins wrote. "The current lack of reporting requirements is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue."
The bill is S. 3698.

Auditors fault Treasury policing of bailout funds
By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 50 mins ago 12/3/2008
WASHINGTON – Lawmakers want the Treasury to do a better job of insisting that banking institutions sharing in the $700 billion bailout comply with limits Congress imposed on executive salaries and use the money for its intended purposes.

In the first comprehensive review of the rescue package, the Government Accountability Office said Tuesday that the Treasury Department has no mechanisms to ensure that banking institutions limit their top executives' pay and comply with other restrictions.

"The GAO's discouraging report makes clear that the Treasury Department's implementation of the (rescue plan) is insufficiently transparent and is not accountable to American taxpayers," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

The auditors acknowledged that the program, created Oct. 3 to help stabilize a rapidly faltering banking system, was less than 60 days old and has been adjusting to an evolving mission.

But auditors recommended that Treasury work with government bank regulators to determine whether the activities of financial institutions that receive the money are meeting their purpose.

In a response to the GAO, Neel Kashkari, who heads the department's Office of Financial Stability, said the agency was developing its own compliance program and indicated that it disagreed with the need to work with regulators.

The GAO is one of three watchdogs that Congress has assigned to monitor the extraordinary $700 billion financial rescue package, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. A congressional oversight panel is scheduled to issue its report on Dec. 10. In addition, Congress created an inspector general's office to oversee the program, but the confirmation of veteran federal prosecutor Neil M. Barofsky to the post has been blocked in the Senate by a senator who remains anonymous under Senate practice.

"This report proves the immediate need for oversight of the taxpayer dollars being expended right now as part of TARP," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said in a statement.
"Because of one senator's anonymous block on this nomination, three weeks have been lost — a key element of the TARP oversight program is not in place."

Republican Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky, a member of the Senate Banking Committee who opposed the bailout bill, has said he had "serious concerns" with Barofsky's nomination, though he has praised his experience. Bunning spokesman Mike Reynard would not comment on whether Bunning had placed the hold.

The audit came on the same day Detroit automakers renewed their plea for a rescue package with promises to dramatically restructure their operations. Noting that Congress had insisted on those conditions, Pelosi said financial institutions should be asked to do no less.

"The lack of any requirement by the administration on how financial institutions use these capital infusions is in clear contrast to Congress requiring detailed plans for long-term viability from the domestic auto companies," Pelosi said.

Subject: "I.O.U.S.A.:" Can you handle the truth?

Do Americans Care About Big Brother?

Pity America's poor civil libertarians. In recent weeks, the papers have been full of stories about the warehousing of information on Americans by the National Security Agency, the interception of financial information by the CIA, the stripping of authority from a civilian intelligence oversight board by the White House, and the compilation of suspicious activity reports from banks by the Treasury Department.

On Thursday, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine released a report documenting continuing misuse of Patriot Act powers by the FBI.
And to judge from the reaction in the country, nobody cares.
No, a President Can't Do as He Pleases
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's plurality opinion in the Hamdi case nicely captured the key principle:
"Whatever power the U.S. Constitution envisions for the Executive ... in time of conflict, it most assuredly envisions a role for all three branches of government when individual civil liberties are at stake."

Voter Fraud and Voter Intimidation,
a report based on its October 13, 2006
To: POLITICAL EDITORS

Contact: Lenore Ostrowsky of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, +1-202-376-8591

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United States Commission on Civil Rights today released Voter Fraud and Voter Intimidation, a report based on its October 13, 2006 briefing. The fact finding forum dealt with the mounting threats posed by voter fraud and voter intimidation to the nation's democratic processes, which have gained new salience in a modern political environment characterized by often close and hotly-contested elections.

An expert panel, including individuals engaged in election reform efforts, a distinguished journalist who has studied and written about voter fraud, and veterans of campaigns from both political parties offered the Commission testimony on ways that both federal and state officials might improve the current voting process to eliminate voting irregularities and ensure an electoral system befitting a first-world nation. The experts focused on improvements to state voter registration processes to guarantee accurate voter rolls and the value of requiring voter identification.

In releasing the report, Gerald A. Reynolds, Commission Chairman, said: "Voting irregularities undermine public confidence in the electoral system and jeopardize the principle of 'one person, one vote.' Recent evidence in some fourteen states of possible fraud by third party voter registration organizations and of intimidation perpetrated by individuals underscores the need for immediate governmental attention at both the federal and state levels to ensure that our democratic processes are not being corrupted and that Americans' votes are not being diluted. The Commission asks the White House, the Department of Justice, Congress and state legislators to weigh carefully the growing evidence of voting irregularities, including those relayed in this report, and to consider both short and long-term actions to alleviate the problem."

The report recommends greater efforts by state and local officials to achieve accurate voter rolls, especially in light of trends towards expanded absentee voting, same-day registration and voting exclusively by mail, which the Commission found to be problematic. To enhance ballot integrity without raising barriers to voting, the Commission also encourages states to adopt a photo identification requirement for both registration and voting that can be provided to the indigent at no cost, coupled with outreach to register qualified voters and better training of poll workers.

The Commission adopted the report by a 6-2 vote at its May 9, 2008 meeting. The report, including the statements of the two dissenting Commissioners, is available on the Commission's Web site, at www.usccr.gov.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is an independent, bipartisan agency charged with monitoring federal civil rights enforcement. Members include Chairman Gerald A. Reynolds, Vice Chairman Abigail Thernstrom, and Commissioners Peter N. Kirsanow, Arlan Melendez, Ashley L. Taylor, Michael Yaki, Gail Heriot and Todd Gaziano. Martin Dannenfelser is the Staff Director. Commission meetings are open to the media and general public.

SOURCE U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
Volusia County
Incumbent SOE!
Up to it again...
first she says there will be
GOP challenges of voters in foreclosure
to a reporter, now denies she ever said it,
and now refuses to extend hours?!
- Posted by: Alice | October 28, 2008 at 09:48 PM

GAO adds 2010 census to list of high-risk programs
By ELISE CASTELLI