Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Rep. Jerrold Nadler attended the congressional hearing today

New York City Rep. Jerrold Nadler criticized the federal Troubled Asset
Relief Program at a Congressional hearing today on the impact of Washington’s
efforts to spur corporate and commercial real estate lending. He told the oversight panel that the United States government should
set up new banks or directly fund small, stable banks as a way of
increasing commercial lending in the country. Nadler said the Troubled Asset Relief Program as currently designed
will not be successful, and suggested his idea in testimony before the
Congressional Oversight Panel, which is overseeing the federal
government bailout. “Take a large amount of money — I’m taking this number out of the air
– $100 billion… and form brand new banks,” he said. If that was “too
radical…take a large amount of money, say $100 billion, and fund
existing small and regional banks that have not engaged in risky
speculation and derivatives,” he said. [more]