Their diverging perspectives are a sign of the fault lines that will arise within the commission, which is tasked with overseeing the lending of hundreds of billions of dollars by the Fed and Treasury to companies slammed by the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The panel has not even started work yet since a chair has yet to be chosen by McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

These divisions could hobble a panel that already lacks subpoena power, causing gridlock at a time when lawmakers are increasingly concerned about how the massive amounts of money they're spending is being monitored.

Congress has asked existing oversight entities like inspectors general and the Government Accountability Office to review coronavirus relief efforts. The House last week also established a new investigative committee with broad authority to probe the federal response.

The need for strong oversight has been underscored by the problems surrounding the rollout of an unrelated $670 billion bailout program for small businesses, which has been beset by complaints that banks favored certain loan applicants, including large, publicly listed companies that are able to raise funds elsewhere.

Ramamurti, who was appointed well before the other three current members of the commission, made his mark early, sending a letter to the Fed urging it to disclose detailed information about lending transactions and penning a New York Times op-ed calling for more conditions to be attached to the loans.

In a reflection of the central bank's sensitivity to how its pivotal role in the massive rescue is being perceived, the Fed last week pledged to release the names of aid recipients each month.

But the rest of the commissioners in interviews with POLITICO offered little criticism for the Fed’s approach thus far, saying they wanted to make sure they understood its strategy and analyze whether the money is being used to help workers and the broader economy once it starts going out the door.

“When you put this much money out you expect some mischief,” said Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.), Pelosi’s choice for the commission. “But I’m not particularly interested in nitpicking as I am in seeing what’s their strategy, who are they helping and what are the details.”

Shalala — who has come under attack herself from progressives for what they say is a lack of experience in either oversight or finance and over her failure to disclose stock sales — said she will want to know whether companies receiving emergency loans have “protected their employees.”

But she also emphasized that the commission needs to work out a joint vision for how it should proceed.

“This is a commission. It’s not an individual assignment,” she said. “Until the commission sits down and talks through exactly what questions we want answers to, what information we want to ask both the Fed and Treasury for, we should not be rogue in this role.”

Rep. Donna Shalala. | Patrick Semansky-Pool/Getty Images

Now that Congress has passed a series of laws totaling trillions of dollars, attention is shifting more concertedly to how those funds are being spent.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump sparked an outcry when he upended a newly created committee of existing inspectors general — granted broad power to oversee the massive rescue package — by effectively ousting its chairman and leaving the panel scrambling to regroup.

That and the chaos surrounding the small business lending program raise questions about how effective this particular oversight commission — tasked with overseeing the use of $500 billion in bailout money for businesses and municipalities broadly, and airlines in particular — will be.

“We don’t have subpoena power, but I know the Fed chair well enough to know that he does not want to politicize the Fed,” Shalala said of central bank chief Jerome Powell. “He wants to be probably as open as possible, and I’m hoping my read of him is true.”

Ramamurti, who emphasized that oversight is a bipartisan endeavor, said one option for the commission is to work with the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Banking Committee if subpoenas become necessary.

“We’ll have to be creative about getting the information that we need, potentially working with other oversight committees or other oversight bodies,” he said.

Toomey, himself a member of the Banking Committee, expressed confidence that the Fed and Treasury would cooperate with information requests, praising the central bank’s announcement last week that it will reveal the names of companies that borrow under its massive emergency lending programs.

“They’re thinking about this in a very thoughtful, sensible responsible way,” he said.

The senator said it was important for the Fed and Treasury to develop programs “with maximum possible transparency, without favoring certain companies or activities or industries.” He also said the Fed shouldn’t make granular decisions as to whether specific companies behaved responsibly ahead of the crisis.