Pelosi, Reid name members of TARP oversight

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Friday named their three members of a five-person oversight panel that will monitor Treasury's Wall Street rescue plan and regularly report back to Congress.

Treasury's inspector general told the Washington Post earlier this week that oversight of the program is "a mess" - even though the administration has already committed $290 billion of the first $350 billion pledged.

Pelosi named Richard H. Neiman, superintendent of Banks in New York. Reid appointed Elizabeth Warren of Harvard Law School. And the two leaders jointly appointed Damon Silvers, AFL-CIO Associate General Counsel.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) each nominate one member of the oversight board, which will deliver monthly reports to Congress on the impact of the program, the transparency of its record-keeping and the effectiveness it has on "mitigating foreclosures and maxmizing taxpayer benefits.

The panel will also deliver Congress a report by Jan. 20 on the effectiveness of the regulatory structure now governing the country's financial system.

CORRECTION: The initial posting incorrectly said the oversight board only had three members.