Stimulus Oversight Panel Has One Person Trying to Watch $2.2 Trillion Alone
Days after his appointment by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, Ramamurti’s solo act got even tougher. On April 9, the Federal Reserve, in coordination with the Treasury Department, announced the rollout of the “Main Street Lending Facility,” one of the key pillars of the government’s relief effort that will provide loans to companies with up to 10,000 employees or up to $2.5 billion in annual revenue.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the new program “will make a significant difference for the 40,000 medium-sized businesses that employ 35 million Americans.” The Main Street Lending Program is funded with $75 billion from the $500 billion that the CARES Act allotted to the Treasury to backstop Fed loans.
Under the new law, the disbursement of Treasury funds triggers a countdown clock that requires the oversight commission to produce its first public report within 30 days. “It’s a statutory requirement,” Ramamurti said, “so I think one way or another there’s going to have to be a report by early May.”
Lacking a better option, Ramamurti took to Twitter to react to the new Fed programs and give the public an idea of what sorts of questions the commission — that is, he — would try to address in its initial report. “I hate to be that guy pointing you to his tweets,” he said, “but I put out 9 or 10 questions on a bunch of the new actions. It would be great to start providing answers. It’s important because the money, and the economic crisis, is moving so quickly that you want to be able to exercise proper oversight.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-14/virus-fund-cop-awaiting-help-watches-2-trillion-bailout-alone