Bill Would Require Treasury To Make Substantial TARP Disclosures

The House Appropriations Committee included specific instructions regarding the Treasury's various market rescue efforts in legislation allocating funding for the department's activities in fiscal 2010, which begins Oct.1.

By Dec. 1, the Treasury must make clear additionally what profits or losses taxpayers can expect to incur as a result of the investments made by the federal government in its efforts to stabilize the financial markets.

The new requirements would apply to investments made through the Troubled Asset Relief Program - the primary vehicle through which the federal government has made investments since the economic crisis began last fall - but also through its moves to take over Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) and in "any other investments of taxpayer funds aimed at ensuring economic and financial stability."

The House bill directs the Treasury to report quarterly for the next year on its efforts to implement recommendations from the various bodies with oversight responsibility over its market stabilization activities.

The legislation would appear to also seek information about the lending activities carried out by the Federal Reserve, referring to "other sources and authorities," but it doesn't mention the Fed by name.

This has increasingly been a sore point with lawmakers who have been largely unable to determine how much and where the Fed has spent public money in attempts to shore up troubled financial firms.

As reported two weeks ago, the spending bill also includes a boost in funds for both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Future Trading Commission to enable them to increase enforcement activities.

The House must now take up the spending bill, which it is likely to do in the coming weeks. The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider its version of the bill Wednesday, although details of its legislation haven't yet been released.

-By Corey Boles, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6601; [e-mail]