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Congressional Budget for the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2010

Floor Speech

By: Jack Reed
By: Jack Reed
Date: April 2, 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Finance and Banking Housing and Property


CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET FOR THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010 -- (Senate - April 02, 2009)

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Mr. CONRAD. That would be the pending amendment, No. 949, and Senator Reed would be recognized to offer the amendment.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.

Mr. REED. Mr. President, my amendment would focus on the issue I think we are all concerned about, and it would be a counterpoint to Senator Vitter's amendment, and that would be the administration of the Troubled Asset Relieve Program. My amendment would create a reserve fund, which would focus the remaining resources in the TARP fund on supporting small businesses, saving homeowners from foreclosure, helping the bond market, and making credit more widely available. It would also strengthen the oversight entities, the Special Inspector General, the Congressional Oversight Panel, and the Government Accountability Office.

Senator Vitter's amendment purports to take back the money by striking certain functions, such as function 370. But that function also has the funding for the FHA, the Rural Housing Program, and the Small Business Administration. In effect, we will not be taking away the TARP money, we will be challenging these other programs to find funds.

I urge adoption of my amendment and the rejection of Senator Vitter's amendment.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Has the Senator offered the amendment?

Mr. REED. Mr. President, I offer it at this time.

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Mr. REED. Mr. President, the Reed amendment, which we just adopted, focuses the remaining TARP funds on functions that are critical to the economic progress of the country--keeping people in homes, providing help for small business, supporting the traditional bond market, making credit more widely available. The restriction of these funds proposed by Senator Vitter will undercut these objectives. In addition, the Reed amendment has strengthened the oversight responsibilities.

Secretary Geithner has just announced a program that will focus on these toxic assets. Keeping these TARP funds, I believe, will give the Treasury the flexibility to make that program work more effectively, and I oppose the Vitter amendment.

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