More Stimulus Money Coming?

A new article in the Washington Post says that the Obama administration will lose $200 Billion less than expected in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds, the funds used to bail out financial institutions. President Obama, according to the article, is expected to ask Congree to use this money for job creation.

According to the Post, "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats have been drafting a jobs bill that would tap resources in the bailout program.

Among the proposals being considered are funding as much as $70 billion in new transportation and infrastructure projects, providing new tax credits aimed at encouraging small businesses to hire workers and providing additional aid to state governments to preserve public sector jobs."

This money may not have come in under ARRA, but it sure sounds like stimulus money. Sounds like they want to expand what is being done with ARRA. The next question, IF the money actually materializes, and IF Congress will go along with plans to use it this way, will Congress apply the ARRA rules to this additional money, or will they come up with some different way to regulate it? They should really think long and hard before they set up something new to do the same thing, if they want to use different rules. There is no excuse for repeating the mess that has been made of generating regulations for and reporting on the usage of ARRA funds.