NOVEMBER 14, 2008, 2:11 P.M. ET
Lawmakers Grill Kashkari on Changes in TARP Plan
By MICHAEL R. CRITTENDEN
WASHINGTON -- U.S. lawmakers kept up the criticism of the Treasury Department's management of the $700 billion financial rescue plan on Friday, accusing officials of being disingenuous in the way they sold the program to Congress.
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Lawmakers were especially critical of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's announcement earlier this week that the $700 billion rescue plan likely wouldn't be used to purchase troubled assets from financial institutions. When conceived during negotiations between Treasury and lawmakers, the plan originally was to have the federal government buy up the assets in order to unfreeze credit markets.
"I think it's fairly obvious that Congress would have never passed the [rescue plan] had it known how Treasury would marshal the resources it was given," Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D., Ohio) chairman of the subcommittee, said during his opening remarks.
Treasury's actions to help homeowners were also a source of criticism. Kucinich accused Paulson of taking scissors to the legislation that authorized the $700 billion, cutting out the section that requires Treasury to use the program to achieve the goal of reducing foreclosures.
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oh, they lied:p
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