Congress recently gave the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve broad authority to lend out trillions of dollars to businesses, states and municipalities struggling because of coronavirus distancing orders. The key question is whether that money ends up helping working people or flows instead to the managers, executives and investors who have already taken so much of the income gains in the past decade.

The Congressional Oversight Commission, which I was appointed to by the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, last week, is the only body that can investigate the decisions made by the Treasury and the Fed without interference from President Trump, who has already tampered with the two other oversight bodies the CARES Act created. The public’s best hope is for Congress to quickly appoint the other four commissioners and let us get to work on the behalf of taxpayers, tracking the more than $2 trillion in lending that is already in the pipeline

Because the Fed can put 10 times or more of its own money behind the $500 billion from the CARES Act, there is likely to be many trillions more in publicly directed lending to come.

Congress placed certain conditions on some of the funds: Some of the money is set aside for companies critical to national security; certain loans to companies must come with restrictions on shareholder payouts and executive compensation; foreign companies as well as companies controlled by the top executive branch officials and members of Congress (and their families) can’t receive loans. But beyond those basic rules, the Treasury and the Fed decide who gets money, how much they get and on what terms.