Bill Requires Treasury To Create TARP DatabaseBill Requires Treasury To Create TARP Database

The House of Representatives has voted to require the Department of the Treasury to consolidate data on the bank bailout into a single, standardized database.

The government is collecting reams of data and filings related to the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, but it's spread among more than 25 federal agencies and stored in incompatible databases and formats.

Under the House bill, unofficially titled the TARP Accountability and Disclosure Act, Treasury would have to pull together all data under the TARP program, as well as public information like regulatory filings, corporate press releases, and company profiles into one standardized, Web-accessible database. The database would be required to be updated daily.

The goal is to make it easier to track TARP funds. "If we're going to give billions of dollars in TARP money to banks, it's important that every dollar is accounted for," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., who along with Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., sponsored the bill.

Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and former Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., introduced a similar bill earlier this year, but it has yet to be taken up by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

The database will be made available to the Comptroller General, oversight officials, and the Congressional TARP oversight committee. The Secretary of the Treasury must "adopt rules and procedures for public access," but it's not clear that the public will be granted unfettered access to all of the database's contents. The Senate bill doesn't mention public access.

The Department of the Treasury would have to issue an RFP within 30 days of the President signing the legislation into law and have the database operating within 180 days.

The House bill had gained support from government watchdog groups and others. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Coalition for Citizens Against Government Waste are among those voicing support.

The technology industry stands to gain from the bill. IBM and SAS Institute have lobbied in favor of the bill, Teradata served as a technical advisor to Rep. Maloney, and the Information Technology Industry Council penned a supportive letter earlier this year.

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