Neil Barofsky, the inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), is due to deliver his report to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee tomorrow, Tuesday July 20th.

Barofsky, who is the government’s top bailout watchdog says that the total price tag for federal support stemming from the financial crisis could reach as much as $23.7 trillion in the after factoring in commitments from dozens of programs that were implemented throughout the federal government since 2007, and added that just the financial exposure of TARP and its related programs could reach $3 trillion.

He says that TARP, which started as a $700 billion bailout has expanded way beyond that;

“TARP has evolved into a program of unprecedented scope, scale and complexity. Moreover, TARP does not function in a vacuum but is rather part of the broader government efforts to stabilize the financial system”.

The estimate covers commitments that could have been made by the Federal Reserve, Treasury Department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Federal Housing Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies.

In his report, Barofsky also says that the Treasury Department has repeatedly failed to adopt recommendations that his office believes would bring more transparency and accountability to the execution of the bailout.

In a written response, the Treasury again rejected that call saying, “Although it might be tempting to do so, it is not possible to say that investment of TARP dollars resulted in particular loans, investments or other activities by the recipient”.

The report found that fifteen banks had used funds that were acquired from the FDIC to buy weaker rivals, with the banks saying that “the acquisitions helped preserve banking services to customers”.

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