Capital Briefs: Panel Votes to Ax Defunct RTC's Supervisor

The House Banking Committee Tuesday voted to abolish the Thrift Depositor Protection Oversight Board, which was set up to supervise the now-defunct Resolution Trust Corp.

House Banking Committee Chairman Jim Leach sponsored the bill at the Treasury Department's request. The board's duties largely disappeared when the RTC was abolished in December 1995.

"The oversight board has accomplished its mission and is no longer necessary," Treasury Under Secretary John D. Hawke Jr. told the committee Tuesday.

Abolishing the board will save the government $255,000 annually in personnel and paperwork costs, Mr. Hawke said. The board's remaining responsibility, managing the $30 billion in outstanding Resolution Funding Corp. bonds used to pay for the thrift industry bailout, would be transferred to Treasury. Without the legislation, the board would remain intact until 2030, when the last of the bonds mature.

Rep. Leach said he expected the bill to be brought to the House floor shortly.

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