Gregg Press Release: Obama Administration Breaking Its Promises

Sen. Judd Gregg’s office issued the following statement today:

GREGG: OBAMA ADMINISTRATION BREAKING ITS PROMISES, NOT PROTECTING TAXPAYERS

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) issued the following statement in response to the President’s speech today that signaled, among other options such as more stimulus spending, that the Administration would shift funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to pay for new policies aimed at job creation.

Senator Gregg stated, “The President is right to explore all options for helping our families, communities and businesses get back on their feet and pull through this serious economic crisis. However, claiming nonexistent TARP savings to pay for stimulus spending, as the President seems to be proposing, is neither a legally permissible nor an advisable option.

“The Administration’s claims that unused TARP authority can be used to pay down the debt or redirected to purposes unrelated to the financial system are false—using TARP funds to grow other government programs would only increase deficits and debt and would undermine the purpose of the program as stated in law.  It also clearly breaks the Administration’s earlier promises about how it would carry out the TARP, and runs counter to what the President himself said last year when he voted for TARP when he was a Senator: ‘[I]f American taxpayers are financing this solution, then they have to be treated like investors. They should get every penny of their tax dollars back once the economy recovers.’  Taxpayers will lose out if we create more deficit spending, but at least the President’s proposal will result in one new job – he’ll need to hire a magician to make this new deficit spending appear fiscally responsible.”

Excerpt from then Senator Barack Obama’s Floor Speech about TARP on October 1, 2008 (the day he voted for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008):

“Finally, I said that if American taxpayers are financing this solution, then they have to be treated like investors. They should get every penny of their tax dollars back once the economy recovers.

“This last part is important because it has been the most misunderstood and poorly communicated part of this plan. This is not a plan to just hand over $700 billion of taxpayer money to a few banks. If this is managed correctly-and that is an important “if”-we will hopefully get most or all of our money back, and possibly even turn a profit, on the Government’s investment-every penny of which will go directly back to the American people.”

Also, please refer to attached letter from Mr. Larry Summers to Congressional leaders regarding how the Obama Administration will manage EESA – namely, the text which reads: “As the Obama Administration carries out the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, our actions will reflect the Act’s original purpose of preventing systemic consequences in the financial and housing markets.  The incoming Obama Administration has no intention of using any funds to implement an industrial policy.”