Congressional Oversight Panel

The Congressional Oversight Panel was created to oversee the expenditure of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds authorized by Congress in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) and to provide recommendations on regulatory reform.

Membership
On November 14, 2008, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi appointed Richard H. Neiman, Superintendent of Banks for the State of New York, Damon Silvers, Associate General Counsel of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), and Elizabeth Warren, Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard Law School to the Panel. With the appointment on November 19, 2008 of Congressman Jeb Hensarling to the Panel by House Minority Leader John Boehner, the Panel had a quorum and met for the first time on November 26, 2008, electing Professor Warren as its chair. On December 16, 2008, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell named Senator John E. Sununu to the Panel. Effective August 10, 2009, Senator Sununu resigned from the Panel and on August 20, Senator McConnell announced the appointment of Paul Atkins, former Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to fill the vacant seat.

Duties
"The Panel is empowered to hold hearings, review official data, and write reports on actions taken by Treasury and financial institutions and their effect on the economy. Through regular reports, the Panel must oversee Treasury's actions, assess the impact of spending to stabilize the economy, evaluate market transparency, ensure effective foreclosure mitigation efforts, and guarantee that Treasury's actions are in the best interests of the American people. In addition, Congress instructed the Panel to produce a special report on regulatory reform that analyzes 'the current state of the regulatory system and its effectiveness at overseeing the participants in the financial system and protecting consumers.' The Panel issued this report in January 2009. Congress subsequently expanded the Panel's mandate by directing it to produce a special report on the availability of credit in the agricultural sector. The report was issued on July 21, 2009."

Reports

 * 08/12/2010 The Global Context and International Effects of the TARP
 * 07/14/2010 Small Banks in the Capital Purchase Program
 * 06/10/2010 The AIG Rescue, Its Impact on Markets, and the Government's Exit Strategy
 * 05/13/2010 The Small Business Credit Crunch and the Impact of the TARP
 * 04/14/2010 Evaluating Progress of TARP Foreclosure Mitigation Programs
 * 03/11/2010 The Unique Treatment of GMAC Under TARP
 * 02/11/2010 Commercial Real Estate Losses and the Risk to Financial Stability
 * 01/14/2010 Exiting TARP and Unwinding Its Impact on the Financial Markets
 * 12/09/2009 Taking Stock: What Has the Troubled Asset Relief Program Achieved?
 * 11/06/2009 Guarantees and Contingent Payments in TARP and Related Programs
 * 10/09/2009 An Assessment of Foreclosure Mitigation Efforts After Six Months
 * 09/09/2009 The Use of TARP Funds in Support and Reorganization of the Domestic Automotive Industry
 * 08/11/2009 The Continued Risk of Troubled Assets
 * 07/21/2009 Special Report on Farm Loan Restructuring
 * 07/10/2009 TARP Repayments, Including the Repurchase of Stock Warrants
 * 06/09/2009 Stress Testing and Shoring Up Bank Capital
 * 05/07/2009 Reviving Lending to Small Businesses and Families and the Impact of the TALF
 * 04/07/2009 Assessing Treasury’s Strategy: Six Months of TARP
 * 03/06/2009 Foreclosure Crisis: Working Toward a Solution
 * 02/06/2009 February Oversight Report: Valuing Treasury’s Acquisitions
 * 01/29/2009 Special Report on Regulatory Reform
 * 01/09/2009 Accountability for the Troubled Asset Relief Program
 * 12/10/2008 Questions About the $700 Billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Funds

Hearings and testimony

 * Congressional Oversight Panel hearings and testimony

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Elizabeth Warren

External resources

 * Congressional Oversight Panel home page: http://cop.senate.gov/about/

Panel reports

 * All C.O.P. reports are available at this link
 * Commercial Real Estate Losses and the Risk to Financial Stability, February 11, 2010.

External articles

 * Shahien Nasiripour, Elizabeth Warren Warns About Commercial Real Estate Crisis, 'Downward Spiral' For Small Businesses, Local Banks, Huffington Post, February 11, 2010.
 * Press release: Congressional Oversight Panel Analyzes Commercial Real Estate Losses and the Risk to Financial Stability, Congressional Oversight Panel, February 11, 2010.