Harping on TARP

When Congress approved the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program last October (TARP - popularly known as the "financial bailout"), it immediately released $350 billion to the executive branch, but included a clause that the president would have to come back to Congress in order to seek access to the rest of the money.

Now that half of the bailout funds have been doled out, there is plenty of criticism of how the Treasury has been spending.

As the name of the legislation implies, the TARP funds were originally intended to be used by the Treasury to buy up toxic assets - including mortgage-backed securities, credit default swaps and other complicated derivative securities tied to the housing market - from struggling financial institutions to help clear up their balance sheets.

In the end, though, most of the money was used by the government to buy equity stakes in those firms; and, some of that money actually ended up in the hands of Detroit's automakers - a sector for which the funds were never intended.

Now that Congress is looking at how the second $350 billion will be spent, lawmakers are taking their cues from their constituents fed up with the opaque way the banks and other firms have used the first $350 billion. Take a look:

1) 62 percent of Americans say Congress should block the remaining bailout funds until the incoming Obama administration provides more details on how that money will be spent. The poll, conducted by the Gallup organization, suggests that a majority of Americans don't completely trust the Treasury to act independently with such a large amount of money.

2) Americans from all political walks share concerns on where and how the rescue money is being spent. The Gallup poll found sentiment among Republicans, Democrats, and Independents is pretty consistent on this issue.

3) Congressman Barney Frank has just introduced a so-called "trust and verify" bill, which would place tighter restrictions on how the remaining $350 billion can be spent. Frank, the House Financial Services Committee Chairman and Democrat from Massachusetts, is seeking to include measures to increase oversight in the proposed bill, and ways to steer funds to help Americans facing foreclosure.

It's a complicated predicament. On one hand, the Treasury needs some wiggle-room to work effectively in changing circumstances, especially given the unpredictable nature of the current financial meltdown. On the other hand, legislators need to know what they are approving and maintain its check on the executive branch.

At the very least, it's clear from the Gallup poll that people across the political spectrum are in favor of more oversight on the remaining $350 billion of the bailout money. In other words, Americans want to know what’s going on underneath that TARP!

Ali Velshi is CNN’s chief business correspondent.