Brown: Where's the oversight for $700B bailout?

It was less than two months ago that Congress passed the $700 billion bailout package. Do you remember how it went down? ...

http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_allpolitics/~3/45308...

Brown: where's the oversight for $700b bailout? (Abstract text format)

Commentary: Where's the oversight for $700B bailout? - CNN.com @import url(http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/.element/css/2.0/ie_mosaic_v ideo.css); Home World U.S. Politics Crime Entertainment Health Te ch Travel Living Business Sports Time.com Video iReport Impact Hot Topics » Transition to power • Political Ticker • Commentary • more topics » International Edition Share this on: Mixx Digg Facebook delicious reddit StumbleUpon MyS pace Commentary: Where's the oversight for $700B bailout?Story Highlights Brown: Treasury secretary gets blank check with taxpayers' billions Congress did right thing and wrote oversight into the bailout bill, she says But the oversight positions haven't been filled, she notes Paulson has switched plans and all we can do is hope he's right, Brown says Next Article in Politics » Read VIDEO By Campbell Brown CNN Editor's note: Campbell Brown anchors CNN's "Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull" at 8 p.m. ET Mondays through Fridays. She delivered this commentary during the "Cutting through the Bull" segment of Thursday night's broadcast. CNN's Campbell Brown cites a Washington Post report on how the bailout is going. (CNN) -- It was less than two months ago that Congress passed the $700 billion bailout package. Do you remember how it went down? Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson went to Capitol Hill, got down on his knees and begged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, warning there would be financial Armageddon if he didn't get this cash. He asked for a blank check. I criticized him for that at the time and applauded Congress for saying, "No way. There must be an oversight. You must account for the money you spend and answer to us every step of the way." Well, what a joke. Because here we are today and more than a third of the $700 billion has been spent. Paulson tells us Wednesday, oh, by the way, he doesn't think the money is being spent the right way and he is now going to redirect the rest of it. Watch Campbell Brown's commentary » For all I know, Paulson is right. Maybe the original plan was a bad one and we do need to regroup. But where the heck is the oversight? I mean, members of Congress: You delayed passage of the bailout bill because you wanted checks and balances. You wanted oversight over what Paulson does. 'No bias, no bull' Get the latest on the day's main events on "Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull" 8 ET Monday through Friday on CNN see full schedule » Thursday, The Washington Post reported that the independent oversight jobs that were created as part of this bailout plan haven't even been filled. No one is keeping watch on how $700 billion of our taxes is being spent. The law requires Congress get a formal report by a certain deadline. The deadline has passed and, big surprise, there is no report. Here's the quote The Post had from the Treasury Department's inspector general: "It is a mess. I don't think anyone understands right now how we're going to do proper oversight of this thing." He's right. It is a mess. And who is to blame? Both the White House and Congress were supposed to nominate people to these oversight positions and confirm them. Don't Miss Brown: Bailout switch has some up in arms In depth: Commentaries Campbell Brown: No bias, no bull Both the White House and Congress have dropped the ball and not done their jobs. And because of that, Paulson, a former Wall Street banker, has his blank check and our money. We should all hope and pray he is doing the right thing, because right now, he is answering to no one. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Campbell Brown. E-mail to a friend Share this on: Mixx Digg Facebook del.icio.us reddit StumbleUpon M ySpace | Mixx it | Share All About U.S. Department of the Treasury • U.S. National Economy • Henry M. Paulson Sound Off: Your opinions and comments Post a comment | iReport.com: Put your thoughts on video Post a comment Name Location Comment Submit From the Blogs: Controversy, commentary, and debate Sit tight, we're getting to the good stuff powered by Sphere Top NewsReal estate mogul dead of apparent suicideRecession woes deck Wall Street Most Viewed Most Emailed Top Searches 1 Real estate mogul found dead 2 The aging office of the presidency 3 Wife begs kidnappers for mercy 4 Web scams target at-home workers 5 13 companies hiring in 2009 6 Spokesman: Officer threatened 7 Reid: Court may help seat Burris 8 Police to search home, river 9 3 charged with hate crimes 10 New 'Idol' judge looking forward more most popular » 1 13 companies hiring this year 2 Wanted: 850 new FBI agents 3 How I got taken by a work-at-home scam 4 Real estate power broker dead of... 5 Obama's wheels: Secret Service to... 6 Excerpt: Putting your financial house... 7 Sources: CNN's Gupta approached for... 8 Advice to Obama on battling... 9 The Ski Train: Colorado's quiet treasure 10 Five online dating types to avoid more most popular » 1 caylee anthony 2 blagojevich 3 thailand 4 pregnant man 5 sarah palin 6 obama 7 bigfoot 8 santa tracker 9 santa 10 bristol palin more most popular » Most Viewed Most Emailed Top Searches 1 Presidents who lunch 2 6-year-old drives to school 3 How to fix your credit 4 Atheist bus ad campaign 5 Official: 'No signature needed' more most popular » 1 6-year-old drives to school 2 Obama's new ride 3 Goodbye, chalkboard 4 How to fix your credit 5 Naked intruder more most popular » 1 video 2 moos 3 obama 4 gaza 5 caylee 6 anderson cooper 7 larry king 8 caylee anthony 9 casey anthony 10 china more most popular » 1 Iraq 2 John Travolta 3 Gaza Crisis 4 Sanjay Gupta 5 Oprah Winfrey more most popular » • Part Time Jobs • Sales & Marketing Jobs • Customer Service Jobs Quick Job Search keyword(s): enter city: State ------- AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA PR RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA W A WV WI WY Job type ----------------- Accounting Admin & Clerical Automotive Banking Biotech Broadcast - Journalism Business Development Construction Consultant Customer Service Design Distribution - Shipping Education Engineering Entry Level - New Grad Executive Facilities Finance General Business General Labor Government Grocery Healthcare Hotel - Hospitality Human Resources Information Technology Installation - Maint - Repair Insurance Inventory Legal Legal Admin Management Manufacturing Marketing Nurse Other Ph armacy Professional Services Purchasing - Procurement QA - Quality Control Research Restaurant - Food Service Retail Sales Science Skilled Labor - Trades Strategy - Planning Supply Chain Telecomm Training Transportation Warehouse more options » Home | World | U.S. | Politics | Crime | Entertainment | Health | Tech | Travel | Living | Business | Sports | Time.com Tools & Widgets | Podcasts | Blogs | CNN Mobile | My Profile | E-mail Alerts | CNN Radio | CNN Shop | Site Map CNN en Espaňol | Arabic | Japanese | Korean | Turkish International Edition | CNN TV | CNN International | HLN | Transcripts © 2009 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of service | Privacy guidelines | Advertise with us | About us | Contact us | Help #cnnTxtCmpnt {display:block;} #cnnTabNav {display:none;}

Random News - Noticias al Azar

The indiana primary's fretful five (politico)
Politico - In the May 6 Indiana primary, the next critical contest after Pennsylvania votes on April 22, both Hillary Clinton and ... más - more

Should drivers pay for global warming?
Los Angeles County wants to tax your God-given right to drive in order to finance mass transit. They're calling it a "climate chan... más - more

Uefa will not change rules for turkey
Read full story for latest details. ... más - more

Dreamworks animation in talks for "panda" sequel (reuters)
... más - more

Couric, cbs say she isn't leaving soon
CBS News and "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric are downplaying a Wall Street Journal report that Couric plans to leave the ne... más - more

Lg teases latest 'black label' cell phone ahead of launch (infoworld)
InfoWorld - LG has begun teasing the upcoming launch of the third cell phone in its style-focused "Black Label" family of handsets... más - more

'kindergarten' lawmakers fail to fix calif. budget (ap)
AP - Republican state lawmakers on Tuesday blocked the Democrats' $17 billion proposal to address part of California's fiscal melt... más - more