Hey the President got a puppy

Bush picks a bailout watchdog
By Mike Soraghan
Posted: 11/14/08 12:27 PM [ET]

President Bush has picked a watchdog to monitor the Wall Street bailout amid growing concerns about oversight of the $700 billion program.

The White House announced Friday morning that Bush had selected Neil Barofsky, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, to be the inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program at the Department of the Treasury.

Concerns have been mounting in recent days that Treasury has been doling out money rapidly even though oversight was not in place.

“The banks have a big head start on waste, fraud and abuse, and he had better strap on his track shoes, because he has got a lot of catching up to do,” said Steve Ellis, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. “Barofsky has a mountain to climb before he will be on top of this program.”

The job requires Senate confirmation, which could be difficult given the short amount of time the Senate is expected to spend in session for the rest of the year. There is also the potential of jurisdictional disputes between committees, and whether Democrats will accept a Republican selection so near the end of Bush’s term.

Um... at least a third of the money has already been allocated.

But, truthfully, I hope this appointment goes through. That way whenever we read something about misappropriated bailout funds from now on, someone can say, "I hope to God Cerasoli Barofsky is investigating this" and we can all feel comforted.