'The Public Deserves to Know': Lone Watchdog Demands Federal Reserve Release Names of Corporations Receiving Taxpayer Bailouts

The lone watchdog on a congressional committee formed to oversee the Trump administration's handling of a multi-trillion-dollar coronavirus bailout package demanded Wednesday that the Federal Reserve release to the public both the names of corporations receiving taxpayer bailout money and details on how the funds are being used.

"The public deserves to know which companies are receiving taxpayer-backed lending through the Fed and on what terms, and to be able to monitor what those companies do after receiving taxpayer support," Bharat Ramamurti, thus far the only person who has been appointed to the newly created Congressional Oversight Commission, wrote in a letter to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

The commission is supposed to have five members chosen by congressional leaders of both parties, but the other slots have not yet been filled even as taxpayer money flies out the door.

"I don't think we're in a position where we can just trust corporations to do the right thing with this money."

—Bharat Ramamurti, Congressional Oversight CommissionUnder the CARES Act—a nearly 900-page stimulus package President Donald Trump signed into law last month—the Fed was given sweeping control over hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money, which the central bank can leverage into trillions of dollars in funds to prop up large corporations.

Ramamurti, a former economic adviser to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), expressed concern that the Fed has not committed to releasing key details about transactions involving such an enormous pot of taxpayer money.

"The public deserves a full documentation of how the Fed uses this money—who gets or doesn't, and on what terms and conditions—to assess whether the Fed is using public money wisely and in accordance with Congress' goals in the CARES Act," Ramamurti wrote in his letter, which can be read in full at the bottom of this story.

"It would undermine public confidence in the Fed for it to provide taxpayer-backed support to a company without the public ever finding out who that company is and what exactly the company received," Ramamurti added.

The Fed will soon lend trillions to companies. But it has not committed to disclosing which private companies are getting taxpayer-backed support. That's wrong. I wrote to Fed Chair Powell today asking for detailed and timely disclosures on every loan. https://t.co/pqgoWQ3xHb — Bharat Ramamurti (@BharatRamamurti) April 15, 2020

Ramamurti's demands come as watchdog groups continue to raise alarm about the lack of oversight measures in place to prevent Trump and members of his administration from using coronavirus stimulus money for political purposes or personal enrichment.

As Common Dreams reported, Trump last week abruptly fired an official who was appointed by a group of U.S. inspectors general to head the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), another oversight panel established by the CARES Act.

"Clearly he's planning to corrupt the $2 trillion in spending Congress just approved, whether it's by steering the money to political favorites, negotiating more favorable terms with certain parties or punishing his enemies with a failure to provide aid," Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate with Public Citizen, said of the president in a statement last week. "Who could have seen this coming? Literally everyone."

Critics have also pointed to an "extremely alarming" provision in the CARES Act that allows the Fed to avoid longstanding transparency requirements as it conducts meetings and makes decisions about corporate bailouts amid the ongoing pandemic.

In an interview on MSNBC Wednesday night, Ramamurti—who was appointed to the Congressional Oversight Commission by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)—warned that the CARES Act imposes "more onerous" restrictions on small businesses seeking taxpayer bailout money than large corporations.

"I think it's particularly disturbing because we've seen over the last eight or 10 years that corporate America tends to look out for shareholders and executives first," said Ramamurti. "We've seen an incredible amount of money go into stock buybacks and dividends, and at the same time we've seen wages for workers basically stagnate. So I don't think we're in a position where we can just trust corporations to do the right thing with this money."

"The limitations on smaller businesses are actually more onerous than they for big businesses. It's disturbing, b/c we've seen that corporate America tends to look out for shareholders & executives first"

ー@BharatRamamurti, of the new Oversight Commission@chrislhayes #inners pic.twitter.com/3eYRlwVlX6 — Alexis Goldstein (@alexisgoldstein) April 16, 2020

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