The trouble facing Democrats hoping to use repaid bailout money to fund other things is this: The Troubled Asset Relief Program stipulates that all such funds
“„Under the TARP law, repaid TARP funds must be used to reduce the debt — and given that we will have a $1.6 trillion deficit this year and the Senate just voted to increase the debt limit to more than $14 trillion, the requirements of the TARP law should not be changed…
“„TARP dollars should not be used as a slush fund for the President’s other priorities. The TARP program should end immediately, and, as the TARP law requires, all repaid funds should be used to reduce our staggering debt burden, not used in a way that will add to it.