Fogs of the economic crisis….

Of course, that’s the kind of requirement the original act was drafted to avoid, particularly the 15 day auto kick-in and the omnipresent veto threat.

But if congress had balls, it could give conditional approval subject only to disclosure of what has already been done and shift the burden of obstruction appearances.. Kinda embarrassing for Bush to veto something that only required disclosure. Also embarrassing to suggest no after the fact accounting will ever be made.

So if I get this, under the TARP bill the executive’s request is just a kind of courtesy, “we thought you might like to know” sort of thing. Under the law, they can still spend the money if Congress demurrs by way of a “we really think you hadn’t ought” resolution —not legislation, note— at the cost of vetoing the thing.

And yes, community is wonderful, especially this one. I’m theoretically smart, having an advanced degree and all, but I understand so much more since finding FDL (and some others), and getting the benefit of others’ expertise and points of view. It’s kind of like a wonderful study (huge) group for the real world. *g*