House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) sent a letter today to the TARP Special Inspector General praising him for his work in providing greater transparency for the TARP Program.  Frank’s letter, the text of which is below, is in response to a letter from Inspector General Barofsky, where the IG stated, “Specifically, we [Treasury Special Inspector General] will be sending a request to all entities that have received TARP money to date asking them to account for their use of the TARP funds and to describe their efforts to comply with applicable executive compensation restrictions.”

January 27, 2009

Dear Inspector General Barofsky:

I was very pleased to receive your January 22 letter in which you outline your plans for increased transparency in the Troubled Asset Relief Program, particularly regarding the use of TARP funding by recipient institutions.  You are using the authority Congress added to the TARP proposal in precisely the way in which we hoped.

I applaud your decision to require each recipient to give a full, documented accounting of what it has done with the money and its plans for complying with applicable restrictions on executive compensation.  That will not only give the public they the information to which they are entitled; the fact that the information must be published will put appropriate additional pressure on recipient institutions to comply with both the letter and the spirit of the legislation. 

Please keep me fully informed of progress on your efforts, and let me know if you require additional resources or authority to carry out your important work. 

                                                                        BARNEY FRANK

Attachment: Mr. Barofsky’s January 22nd letter to Chairman Frank