Today, the House Financial Services subcommittee on oversight and investigations held a hearing to review accountability and transparency in the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). During his testimony, Neil Barofsky, the Special Inspector General of the program, warned that if the Treasury Department is not “vigilant,” TARP could fall victim to fraud, much like the federal response to Hurricane Katrina or Iraq’s reconstruction:

History teaches us that an outlay of so much money in such a short period of time will inevitably draw those seeking to profit criminally. Hurricane relief, Iraq reconstruction, and the savings and loan bailout serve as important and difficult lessons. If, by percentage terms, some of the estimates of fraud in those programs apply to the TARP programs, we are looking at the potential exposure of tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money lost to fraud. We must be vigilant.

This is a wise bit of advice, as billions were wasted during both the Katrina and Iraq reconstruction debacles. At the same hearing, Gene Dodaro of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said that Treasury is taking steps to improve accountability “consistent with our recommendations,” but that “additional action is needed to better ensure that all participating institutions are accountable for their use of program funds.”

Evidently, George Will isn’t the only one who’s into recycling discredited ideas these days. In response to House Democrats unveiling an omnibus appropriations bill — which consists of nine fiscal 2009 appropriations bills that President George Bush threatened to veto — House Republicans have called for an across-the-board spending freeze.

In a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the GOP explained its rationale:

At a time of record deficits, a freeze would allow the federal government to keep functioning at current spending levels without requiring beleaguered taxpayers to pay for new spending increases. Congress could ensure that essential government functions are carried out without any cuts while still protecting taxpayers from spending increases during a time of economic hardship.

The letter was signed by Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI).

Boehner also independently called for Congress to “pass a clean bill that freezes spending at current levels,” while Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) jumped on the bandwagon. Remember, though, that this is the same “solution” to the country’s budget woes that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) put forth during the presidential campaign. It’s also old hat for Pence, who pushed for a spending freeze back in 2004.

As we noted when McCain made his proposal, freezing spending would allow inflation to eat away at funding for vital programs, including Pell Grants, Head Start and infrastructure investments. It would mean less money, “in real terms,” for just about everything. There are also projects — like the 2010 census — that are already underfunded and need a boost.

But under the current economic circumstances, this is a far more damaging policy then it was six months ago when McCain was touting it. The economic stimulus package’s main purpose is to close the GDP gap and jumpstart the economy by spurring spending by households, government and the private sector. A spending freeze would act as an “anti-stimulus,” cutting spending precisely when it’s too low and the economy is moving too slowly.

Are these Republicans trying to ensure that the stimulus fails? Or is it that this group simply has no new ideas?

On Friday, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) announced that he would reject nearly $100 million in unemployment insurance funding from the federal government. Jindal said the state would only be accepting money to increase the unemployment insurance payments for those who currently qualify for unemployment insurance and would not accept federal funds to expand unemployment benefits.

So how many people would Jindal’s grand-standing policies affect? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of unemployed people in Louisiana spiked from 109,000 in November to 122,000 in December, an increase of over 13,000 people without jobs or 430 additional out of work people every day.

The estimate itself is conservative, as it relies on December 2008 (the most recent Louisiana employment data available) data and does not consider January’s higher unemployment numbers.

While Louisiana’s Lt. Gov., Mitch Landrieu (D), has already criticized Jindal for acting like “the spokesman for the national Republican Party,” rather than representing the interests of Louisiana, the state’s growing unemployment rate only underscores the Governor’s recklessness.

Since other conservative governors (like South Carolina’s Mark Sanford, whose state is losing approximately 830 jobs a day) are jumping on the Jindal band wagon and rejecting much needed stimulus funding, the Wonk Room has compiled a chart of how many new unemployed people there are each day in December in all 50 states.

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