Rep. Towns Touts Wall Street Oversight

By BRODY MULLINS

WASHINGTON -- The new chairman of the House's chief investigative panel plans to make oversight of Wall Street one of his top priorities of the year, starting with a look at how firms have spent federal bailout funds and whether executives have used the money to fund executive bonuses.

Rep. Edolphus Towns, a New York Democrat, is taking the reins of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee from California Rep. Henry Waxman, one of Capitol Hill's staunchest corporate critics. As Mr. Waxman leaves his post to become chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Mr. Towns prepares to pick up where Mr. Waxman left off, saying he wants a full accounting of how the first half of the $700 billion in funding was spent before the second half is released.

"We cannot continue to give money away and then not hold somebody accountable for that money," Mr. Towns said.

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Richard B. Levine/NewsCom

Rep. Edolphus Towns has made Wall Street oversight his priority as chairman of the House's top investigative panel. Above, at a June rally for Barack Obama.

Mr. Towns's comments came the day Obama administration officials met behind closed doors with Democrats on Capitol Hill to talk about releasing the second $350 billion in bailout funds. Mr. Towns plans to unveil his oversight agenda for the year at a speech in Washington Wednesday.

In prepared remarks reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Towns said his two main concerns about Wall Street are that financial-services companies are not making loans with the bailout funds, and that executives are profiting from the money.

"What did the American people get for the $350 billion," Mr. Towns asks in the prepared remarks. "I must admit, I don't see the value at this point." Mr. Towns said too many companies are sitting on their government-infused capital, rather than "putting those resources in play to help fix our economy. This is unacceptable."

On executive pay, Mr. Towns said: "I used to think that being a weatherman was the only job in America where you can get it wrong 80% of the time and still have a job," referring to financial-services executives who received bonuses last year. He said his oversight panel will launch an investigation into executive pay and bonuses at companies that receive bailout money from the government.

"It is an abomination that so many firms who are receiving government funds continue to reward poor performance," he said.

On other priorities, Mr. Towns said he plans more vigorous oversight of the Obama administration than Republicans performed of the Bush administration. "Looking back, the Republican Congress did the Bush administration no favors by turning a blind eye to problems created in the executive branch," he said in his remarks.

He also said he wants to make the administration more transparent, by making more information available to the public on presidential records, visitor logs and donors to presidential libraries. Mr. Towns said he wants to prevent companies that are delinquent on their taxes from getting government contracts.

Mr. Towns said he may hold hearings on the Bowl Championship Series used to determine a national college-football champion. "I really feel that we need to take a look at it," Mr. Towns said, echoing comments President-elect Barack Obama has made in recent interviews. "What can we do to ensure that this is a fair situation and this is really the best team?"

Write to Brody Mullins at brody.mullins@wsj.com