Senate Passes Boxer Measure to Protect Taxpayer Funds

Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) along with Senators John Ensign (R-NV) Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), offered a bipartisan amendment to prevent fraud and collusion in the Public Private Investment Program, the nearly $1 trillion asset purchase program created by the Treasury Department to make financial institutions stronger by selling off their toxic assets.

The amendment would require that the Treasury Department write tough rules to guard against collusion and conflicts of interest in these new public-private partnerships. It also would give the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program $15 million in additional funding to conduct audits to enforce these rules.

“This amendment sends a clear message that we will not accept fraud or abuse of taxpayer money,” Senator Boxer said. “By giving the Special Inspector General the resources to audit financial institutions that take part in the program, we are putting banks and investors on notice that exploiting the system at taxpayers’ expense simply will not be tolerated.”

A recent report by the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program highlighted the need to guard against sophisticated forms of fraud and conflicts of interest. The strict regulations and targeted audits required by the Boxer amendment will help deter fraud and make sure that taxpayer funds are protected.

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