Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights

Free markets are a necessary condition of liberty, prosperity and tolerance.

An Open Letter to the United States Congress: Demand Real Bailout Transparency!

December 8, 2008
Dear Member of Congress:

We, the undersigned advocates for open and accountable government, are writing to express our deep
concern that the executive branch has provided no transparency into how taxpayer money is being spent
and the decision-making process behind the financial bailout initiatives. We are also concerned that
Congress has to date provided little oversight of these initiatives.

We applaud your decision to turn down the Treasury Department's request for a blank check, but nearly
half of the $700 billion fund for the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, has already been
distributed with very little transparency and almost no oversight. Recently, the public learned that an
additional $800 billion is being spent by the Federal Reserve, which as an independent entity does not
need congressional approval to lend money to banks or, in unusual and exigent circumstances, to other
financial institutions. To date, the cumulative commitment of taxpayer dollars to financial rescue
initiatives is estimated to be $8.5 trillion.

We urge you to use your oversight authority to make the financial bailout more accountable to the
American public, and your legislative authority to make it more transparent. We ask that you work with
Congressional leadership to ensure that there is effective legislative oversight over the entire program.

Any credible solution to the economic crisis must be grounded in transparency and to ensure full
accountability must include best practice whistleblower protection for public and private employees
connected to the bailout. As suggested in a recent opinion piece in Legal Times, "the best way to protect
the interests of taxpayers is by ensuring that what is done is fully disclosed to the public." Currently,
however, the Department of the Treasury has been slow to notify the public of bailout money dispersals
and has neglected to require recipients of bailout money to disclose how the money is used. We request
that you direct that all reports mandated by the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 be made
publicly available in a usable format, whether the law currently specifies public disclosure or not.

Under public disclosure laws, citizens can only gain access to information actually collected by the
government. Therefore, public accountability necessitates that you enact changes in law to require the
Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and any other government entities involved in the
Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights
PO Box 2658 Washington, DC 20013-2658 Tel. 571.377.8596
www.financialprivacy.org [email protected]
bailout, to begin collecting information on certain aspects of how bailout aid is spent by recipients,
including:

• all lobbying/business contracts for firms benefiting from bailout aid;

• all lobbying/business contract details for firms servicing bailout transactions; and
• any securities or other instruments used as collateral for loans through the Federal Reserve.
We urge that Treasury and the Federal Reserve, and any other government entities involved in the
bailout, be required to make such information available to the public in a usable format.

Bipartisan language to improve transparency and strengthen oversight of the bailout already exists. We
urge that, as Treasury has modified its strategy away from primarily purchasing troubled assets, the
Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIG-TARP) be directed to conduct
oversight on areas of the Treasury's program not related to the purchase of troubled assets and that you
grant the SIG-TARP the authority to set up an office and hire staff. Legislation by Senators McCaskill
and Grassley would expand the SIG-TARP's authority to conduct oversight of the Treasury
Department's actions and expedite its staffing process.

Additionally, the Accountability for Economic Rescue Assistance Act, introduced by Senators Feinstein
and Snowe, would bring some welcome improvements to transparency and accountability in the bailout
by banning the use of bailout money for lobbying and political contributions and requiring firms
receiving bailout money provide publicly-available detailed reports outlining how federal funds have
been used. The bill would also require the establishment of corporate governance standards to ensure
that firms do not waste taxpayer money on lavish expenditures and penalties for firms that violate those
standards.

We ask that you build on these existing proposals to strengthen oversight and require greater
transparency to enact legislation in the taxpayer's interest, including best practice whistleblower
protection for public and private employees connected with the bailout.

The public deserves vigorous, timely, and easily-accessible disclosure of all details surrounding any
government decisions regarding financial market problems. We ask that you honor this by making sure
that robust and effective oversight occurs and that all relevant records are collected and publicly
available.

Sincerely*,

Patrice McDermott_OpenTheGovernment.org

Duane Parde_National Taxpayers Union

Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights

PO Box 2658 Washington, DC 20013-2658 Tel. 571.377.8596
www.financialprivacy.org [email protected]
Mary Alice Baish_American Association of Law Libraries

David A Keene_American Conservative Union

Lynne Bradley_American Library Association

Tom DeWeese_American Policy Center

Tim Phillips_Americans for Prosperity

Grover Norquist_Americans for Tax Reform

Timothy Wise_Arlington County (VA) Taxpayers Association

Prudence S. Adler_Association of Research Libraries

Roy H. Stewart_Bedford Taxpayers Association_Granite State Taxpayers

Chip Pitts_Bill of Rights Defense Committee

Terry Francke_Californians Aware

Terrence Scanlon_Capital Research Center

J. Bradley Jansen_Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights

Sandra Fabry_Center for Fiscal Accountability

Timothy H. Lee_Center for Individual Freedom

Mark R. Spengler_Center for Law and Social Strategy

Barbara Anderson_Citizens for Limited Taxation

Anne Weismann_Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

Doug Bandow_Citizen Outreach Project

Bob Edgar_Common Cause

Matthew J. Brouillette_Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives

Thomas Schatz_Council for Citizens Against Government Waste

Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights

PO Box 2658 Washington, DC 20013-2658 Tel. 571.377.8596
www.financialprivacy.org [email protected]
Sue Udry_Defending Dissent Foundation

John Richard_Essential Information

Amber Gunn_Evergreen Freedom Foundation

John Hallman_Florida Taxpayers Union

Conrad Martin_Fund for Constitutional Government

Mark Cohen_Government Accountability Project

Malia Zimmerman_Hawaii Reporter

Gary Wolfram_Hillsdale College

Jon Coupal_Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (CA)

John Tillman_Illinois Policy Institute

Jim Murtagh, MD_International Association of Whistleblowers

Karl Peterjohn_Kansas Taxpayers Network

Andrew Davis_Libertarian National Committee

David A. Brady_Libertarian Party of Illinois

T. Lee Horne III_Libertarian Party of Louisiana

Patrick Dixon_Libertarian Party of Texas

Michael D. Ostrolenk_Liberty Coalition

Mark R. Caramanica_Marion Brechner Citizen Access Project

Richard Falknor_Maryland Center-Right Coalition

Ellen Smith_Mine Safety and Health News

Howie Morgan_Mississippi Forward

James Landrith_The Multiracial Activist

Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights

PO Box 2658 Washington, DC 20013-2658 Tel. 571.377.8596
www.financialprivacy.org [email protected]
Stephen M. Kohn_National Whistleblower Center

Charles N. Davis. Ph.D._National Freedom of Information Coalition

Tom Blanton_National Security Archive

Doug Kagan_Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom

Jerry Cantrell_New Jersey Taxpayers Association

Brandon Dutcher_Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs

Sean Moulton_OMB Watch

Larry Siems_PEN American Center

Susan Maret_Progressive Librarians Guild

Danielle Brian_Project on Government Oversight

David Arkush _Public Citizen

Don Racheter_Public Interest Institute

John Judge_Real Democracy Project

Lucy A. Dalglish_Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

William Westmiller_Republican Liberty Caucus

Paul Gessing_Rio Grande Foundation

John W. Whitehead_The Rutherford Institute

John Tsarpalas_Sam Adams Alliance

Samuel M. Slom_Small Business Hawaii

Dave Aeikens_Society of Professional Journalists

Douglas Newcomb, CAE_Special Libraries Association

Frances Brigham Johnson_Strategic Planning Initiatives

Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights

PO Box 2658 Washington, DC 20013-2658 Tel. 571.377.8596
www.financialprivacy.org [email protected]
Ellen Miller_Sunlight Foundation

John K. Roberts_Taxpayers Union of Louisiana

Ben Cunningham_Tennessee Tax Revolt

Dane von Breichenruchardt _U.S. Bill of Rights Foundation

M. Royce Van Tassell_Utah Taxpayers Association

Toby Nixon_Washington Coalition for Open Government

Bill Will_Washington Newspaper Publishers Association

Rose Bogaert_Wayne County (MI) Taxpayers Association

Rafael DeGennaro _WhyCongressCantRead.com

*Organizations listed for identification purposes only

Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights

PO Box 2658 Washington, DC 20013-2658 Tel. 571.377.8596
www.financialprivacy.org [email protected]