The US Government Accountability Office (GAO), commonly called "the congressional wathdog, is the ONLY Congressional Agency with the skills, capability, authority and track record to evaluate the Administrations claims that it needs $700,000,000,000 immediately to avert a financial catastrophe.
Thus far NO mention of GAO has been made and at this late date I believe it is paramount that we contact our Senators and Congressional Representatives about this. I also think contacting the media, other key progressive "movers" such as Keith, Rachael, Randi Rhodes, Move On, and someone high in the Obama camp is critical if we are to possibly avoid the biggest swindle yet perpetrated on the American public.
Please add anything that will move this quickly along. I'm very new at this but found myself wondering all day long why GAO isn't on the case!
GAO is known as "the investigative arm of Congress" and "the congressional watchdog." GAO supports the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and helps improve the performance and accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people. GAO is charged with examining matters relating to the receipt and payment of public funds. http://www.gao.gov/ The agency has thousands of auditors, accountants, analysts and investigators well versed in evaluating the most challenging programs, issues and regulations. GAO is the "eyes and ears" of Congress, and if we ever needed to know what's really going on, in a hurry, it is NOW!!!
GAO routinely audits every branch of the Federal Government and have contacts in every department of every agency. These auditors should be brought in to swarm the Treasury, Fed and any other involved agency to determine what, if any, support exists for the request, how credible it is (something GAO is particularly good at!) and to what extent this is a real crisis requiring this huge blank check. Armed with this information, Congress will be in a much stronger position to craft truly needed legislation addressing what the real situation is.
Furthermore, given GAO's particular position in the government and it's aforementioned skills, the Comptroller General should be made the head of any oversight group, with all transactions requiring his approval before they are approved. All resources of GAO should be made available to determining how this money should be spent and whether executive actions, as they occur, make sense.
GAO routinely audits every branch of the Federal Government and have contacts in every department of every agency. These auditors should be brought in to swarm the Treasury, Fed and any other involved agency to determine what, if any, support exists for the request, how credible it is (something GAO is particularly good at!) and to what extent this is a real crisis requiring this huge blank check. Armed with this information, Congress will be in a much stronger position to craft truly needed legislation addressing what the real situation is.
Furthermore, given GAO's particular position in the government and it's aforementioned skills, the Comptroller General should be made the head of any oversight group, with all transactions requiring his approval before they are approved. All resources of GAO should be made available to determining how this money should be spent and whether executive actions, as they occur, make sense.
I worked as an "evaluator" for GAO for 13 ½ years and it is the most thorough, unbiased and highly thought of agency in the Federal Government. Unlike the current administration, GAO's credibility is extremely high. We need them NOW!!!