Lawmakers Slap Restrictions on Remaining $350B Bailout Fund

The House Wednesday approved a bill to place restrictions on how the Treasury Department can spend $350 billion in funds to salvage the flailing economy.

Lawmakers voted 266-166.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., sponsored the measure, which would devote some $40 billion to help with mortgage foreclosures and curb executive compensation.

The Bush administration asked that Congress spend the second half of the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) approved last fall. But some lawmakers are skeptical about how the Treasury Department handled the first half. Two weeks ago, a congressional panel reported that the Treasury Department could not determine how it spent the first $350 billion.

The Senate has no intention to take up a similar version of Frank's bill.

The Senate last week voted in favor of releasing the second batch of money. The House is expected to follow suit Thursday.