Word: warrens
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...part of her new job, this well-mannered career academic has to bully some of the world's most powerful men. Shortly after Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act last October, Warren was appointed by Senate Democrats to do one of the most difficult, or perhaps impossible, jobs in Washington: chairing a bipartisan panel tasked with scrutinizing how the Treasury Department - first George W. Bush's, now Barack Obama's - is spending the $700 billion in federal money intended in large part to shore up failing banks. The role has Warren monitoring the decisions of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner...
...appointment raises a number of questions, including whether someone like Warren can compel staffers at the Treasury Department to hand over sensitive data - the crux of her job. The bonus scandal at AIG, the former insurance giant that is now a ward of the Federal Government, was a strong indication that some of those responsible for dispensing funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) lost track of the cash. Which raises a more philosophical point: Is it even possible to know where the money is going? And if so, is Warren, a Washington outsider who's still feeling...
Follow the Money If the question hinges on whether Warren can say exactly how TARP money has been spent so far, then the answer is probably no - but then that may be an unrealistic goal. The eight monthly reports released by the oversight panel to date spend almost more time talking about what isn't known than about what is. They repeatedly assert that the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve should be more forthcoming...
...panel has been plagued by controversy, which has also hampered its effectiveness. Its two Republican members complain that the panel has drifted away from its core mission under Warren's leadership and spends too much time editorializing on the plight of middle-class families, the focus of Warren's academic research. Her relationship with Treasury has been rocky. She got into a low-level war with former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and his staff over their perceived unwillingness to share information, and she had a shaky start with Geithner, who didn't seem to take the panel seriously at first...
...From a public relations perspective, though, Warren has been a success. She has taken to the spotlight like a seal to water and has smoothly made the cable-TV rounds to chide the close-knit club that determined financial policy in the past. She argues that now, finally, taxpayers "have a seat at the table." If this sounds like advocacy, that might be exactly what Democratic Party bosses had in mind when they selected her. Since a special inspector general was also appointed to investigate Treasury's actions, Warren's oversight panel was left with little actual power...