Incoming Obama Team Wants TARP Money

President-elect Barack Obama on Monday asked the Bush Administration to seek the final $350 billion of TARP funds from Congress. Over the weekend Mr. Obama said he plans to tell Congress specifically what the new Treasury Department will do with the money. The president-elect told ABC News that he is disappointed "how the whole TARP process has unfolded" noting that he is concerned about a lack of accounting of how banks are spending the billions invested in them by the government. Congress has 15 days to accept or reject the TARP request. In October President Bush signed the $700 billion 'Emergency Economic Stabilization Act' with the expectation that most of the funds would be used to buy troubled mortgages from financial institutions. But instead of doing that, the Treasury Department has invested most of the first $350 billion in preferred shares of commercial banks, hoping depositories will use that money to originate new business and consumer loans. EESA requires the TARP funds to be allocated to Treasury in two, $350 billion chunks.