The Congressional Oversight Panel (COP), chaired by Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren, held a hearing this morning at 10 a.m. featuring the testimony of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
In his testimony, Geithner described the steps Treasury has taken to combat the financial crisis. He said the Department has been trying to solve the financial crisis with minimal cost to taxpayers. Further, he spoke about the need for more regulation.
“This financial crisis has shown that the largest financial institutions can pose special risks to the financial system as a whole,” he said.
Leading up to the hearing, Warren called upon the Treasury Department to be more transparent in the allocation of TARP money, which was approved by Congress to bailout failing financial institutions.
“The role of congressional oversight is to ask the tough questions, to push back on the decisions, to request additional information and to recheck the numbers,” Warren said in an interview with POLITICO on April 19. “It’s our job to be cranky.”
Warren appeared with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show last week, where she discussed the panel’s work. She has also made headlines recently for her proposal to create a Financial Product Safety Commission, which was recently introduced in legislation by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Charles Schumer ’74 (D-NY).