With the announcement of a TARP-sponsored bailout of GM and Chrysler, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said that the remaining $350 billion authorized in the TARP legislation would have to be released by Congress.

In the very short-term, the allocated but not yet disbursed TARP balances, in conjunction with the powers of the Federal Reserve and the FDIC, give me confidence that we have the necessary resources to address a significant financial market event. It is clear, however, that Congress will need to release the remainder of the TARP to support financial market stability. I will discuss that process with the congressional leadership and the President-elect's transition team in the near future.

And asking for the remainder is really just a formality. When Congress wrote the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act -- the law that created the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) -- it put a few bumps in the road for the administration by requiring that the President ask for the $700 billion in a series of installments. But Congress made it virtually impossible to say "no."

The final installment request can only be stopped by a join resolution from Congress, and join resolution can only be enacted into law with the signature of the president. And since it will be the president asking for the money, it would be rather queer that he would deny his own request by approving Congress's denial. Congress, of course can override the veto, but that two-thirds-majority-override hurdle is pretty tall.

Image by Flickr user rcrowley used under a Creative Commons license.