WASHINGTON — Under criticism for its oversight of the federal bailout program, the Treasury Department plans to examine more closely whether institutions that receive money use it to boost lending.
Neel Kashkari, right, assistant treasury secretary in charge of the bailout program, said Tuesday the department will compare the level of lending by banks that have received government money with lending levels by similar banks that haven’t gotten assistance.
The Bush administration has been strongly criticized by lawmakers from both parties for not doing more to track the roughly $180 billion invested so far in more than 250 banks in an effort to increase consumer credit and lending to businesses.
A congressional oversight panel set up to monitor the financial assistance program said last week that “direct measurements” of what individual company recipients have done are necessary to determine whether the program is benefiting the public.
The Associated Press; AP file photo
