Issa Takes Charge at First Committee Hearing

It’s a good thing Darrell Issa is heading the House Oversight Committee. His leadership was tested almost from the onset from Democrats on the committee, and he showed them that indeed, he was the new sheriff in town.

The unpopular Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP as it is commonly known was the spotlight for this hearing, as well as the Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP), which has more people dropping out than signing up. C-Span has the video if you want to see it, but I want to focus on the conduct and approach of our elected officials during the hearing. It’s clear there is a philosophical divide among parties, which we already knew, and it was very apparent at the hearing.

From the beginning, several Democrats wanted to make opening statements. This is nothing unusual for committee hearings, but Issa decided to dispense with that and get right to the questioning of the two witnesses, acting Assistant Secretary Tim Massad, who has direct responsibility for TARP, and Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for TARP. The whining that ensued when Issa denied opening statements looked like a gaggle of upset children that didn’t get their lollipop. They threw protocol, respect, and everything else at Issa to get him to concede. At one point, Issa interjected, the gentleman is no longer recognized, to stop a tantrum by Dennis olive pit Kucinich. He shut down some guy named Lynch in the same way. They were definitely seeing how long their leash was, and found out how short it really is. If you don’t watch the hearing, just seeing Issa deliver a political sit down and shut up, is worth the watch. Those were the opening minutes of the hearing.

Massad sounded like an administration shill, touting the successes of the TARP program, while conceding that more needs to be done. Barofsky on the other hand, is the IG. His take was quite different. His job is to find everything that is wrong with TARP, and he had plenty to say. Much of the info is dry, but if you have any interest in TARP, and the consequences of it, I encourage you to check out the video. I just happened to tune in by chance as it was beginning. I didn’t see Frank Guinta there, but maybe I missed him. Plenty of other Repubs there, and they had some pointed questions for Massad, and gleaned some distressing information from Barofsky.

The Democrats took a completely different tack. They lauded TARP and the job Massad was doing, while steering clear of Barofsky. As I said, different philosophies. Guys like Elijah Cummings and olive pit Kucinich wanted to focus on the servicers of mortgages, such as banks, that benefited from the TARP program. Actually they were bent on that. At one point Issa reminded them that today they were looking at the government side of the issue, and there would be later hearings that would focus on loan servicers. He again had to shut Kucinich up, who seemingly didn’t have the hearing agenda in front of him.

What it came down to is the Republicans questioning yet another program that didn’t work and benefited a chosen few, and the Democrats who blame the evil banks for the mortgage mess. Yes, the same banks they voted to bail out, at the expense of smaller community banks, that one of the Republican congressmen from Pennsylvania pointed out.

I’ve just glossed the surface here. Setting the stage for this hearing would be about a 30,000 word essay, and I’m not going to do that. The video can do that. Basically, the Repubs thought that TARP was a bad idea, and Dems thought it was just peachy. Of course, there are the exceptions to that rule. Massad thinks it a great idea, but it needs some tweaks. Barofsky, although he concedes something needed to be done at the time, doesn’t think TARP is a particularly good idea, and is riddled with problems and unintended consequences. One thing I noted. Both Massad and Barofsky sound like pretty intelligent guys. Our elected representatives on the other hand…There were some points where I was asking myself, these people are elected? Somebody voted for these people? Indeed they did, which brings home fact that Washington is a reflection of the people that vote.

Issa has his work cut out for him, and so do we, the American people. You can’t change someone’s philosophy with a simple conversation, and in many cases you may not be able to get someone interested enough to actually formulate an opinion of their own. If we leave it to people like Dennis Kucinich and Elijah Cummings to provide opinions for those that may not be up to date on the issues, we’re in for a long ride. Issa has his job, and we have ours.