US lawmaker probing oversight of bank aid program

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - A U.S. House subcommittee will hold a hearing early in March to investigate whether the Treasury is getting enough information from banks to oversee the bank rescue program, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the panel's chairman, announced on Monday.
Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat who heads the Domestic Policy subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, recently sent requests for documents to the largest recipients of money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), as the bank bailout program is called.
The subcommittee will examine these records as well as look at how the Treasury is analyzing the documents received from TARP recipients, Kucinich said in a statement.
"After handing out billions to banks, we have an obligation to the taxpayers to look at all the ways that banks are using TARP funds, whether it's marketing, lavish parties, executive salaries or legitimate purposes," Kucinich said.
The lawmaker's interest had been piqued by the recent news that Citigroup Inc, recipient of billions of bailout funds, had a $400 million baseball stadium sponsorship deal with the Major League team, the New York Mets. Kucinich has urged the government to press Citigroup to end that contract.