Yesterday, the House followed the Senate by passing a bill to provide the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) broader authority to investigate and more specific reporting requirements. In the disclosure and reporting department, the bill mandates quarterly reports to Congress from the office of the Special Inspector General and the posting of all reports on TARP recipients online within 24 hours after issuance. Good for Congress for passing this bill.

I should say how this bill came to my attention. Congressman Erik Paulsen, an original sponsor of the bill, wrote a pat-on-the-back blog post for The Hill today, but he never mentioned which bill the House had just approved. Luckily, the congressman is on Twitter so I just tweeted him and asked and he got right back with the bill number–S. 383, by the way. It really is that easy to talk to a congressman nowadays. (It’s also helpful if the answer you want is under 140 characters.)