Washington, D.C. – The members of the bipartisan Congressional Ove
Washington, D.C. – The members of the bipartisan Congressional Oversight Commission have published their initial report, as mandated by the CARES Act.
A letter from the Commission’s four members to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell regarding the report is below. You may view the whole report here.
The Congressional Oversight Commission is a five person panel that was established by the CARES Act. The commission is focused specifically on the economic stabilization efforts of the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve. The members of the commission are Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Congresswoman Donna Shalala (D-Fla.), Congressman French Hill (R-Ark.), and Bharat Ramamurti. The commission’s chairperson has not been appointed yet.
rsight Commission have published their twenty-ninth report. It is available for review here.
The Congressional Oversight Commission is a five-person, bipartisan panel that was established by the CARES Act. The Commission is focused specifically on the economic stabilization efforts of the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve. Current membership of the Commission includes Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Congressman French Hill (R-Ark.). The Commission’s chairperson has not yet been appointed.
May 18, 2020
The Honorable Steven T. Mnuchin
Secretary
Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20220
The Honorable Jerome H. Powell
Chairman
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
20th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20551
Dear Secretary Mnuchin and Chairman Powell:
Please find enclosed a copy of the first report of the Congressional Oversight Commission (the “Commission”). The Commission was created by the CARES Act to conduct oversight of the Treasury Department (the “Treasury”) and the Federal Reserve’s implementation of Division A, Title IV, Subtitle A of the CARES Act (“Subtitle A”).
Subtitle A provided $500 billion to the Treasury to help support and stabilize the economy by lending and providing liquidity to businesses and state and local governments. Of this amount, $46 billion is set aside for the Treasury to provide loans or loan guarantees to the airline industry and businesses critical to maintaining national security. Any unused portions of this $46 billion, and the remaining $454 billion, may be used to support emergency lending facilities established by the Federal Reserve.
This report reviews actions by the Treasury and the Federal Reserve implementing Subtitle A to date, including designing lending programs and facilities. It also outlines some preliminary questions based on those actions that we intend to examine. These questions are not meant to be comprehensive and will not prevent the Commission from reviewing other matters in the future.
We look forward to meeting soon to discuss these matters.
Sincerely,
French Hill
Member of Congress
Bharat Ramamurti
Commissioner
Donna E. Shalala
Member of Congress
Pat Toomey
U.S. Senator