PIERRE — An amendment sponsored by Sen. John Thune to end the controversial Troubled Asset Relief Program failed in the Senate Thursday.

Thune’s bill would have forbidden further spending in the $700 billion program and directed the $320 billion in available money to reducing the deficit. It picked up support from 53 senators but fell short of the 60 votes needed to cut off debate under Senate rules.

“As our nation’s fiscal health continues to decline under crushing debt, the Senate missed a golden opportunity to take a positive step,” Thune said in a statement. “Ending TARP would reduce our growing debt, but it appears that the majority of Democrats in the Senate is content to continue down a dangerous path.”

Advertisement

This is not the first time Thune has crusaded against the TARP program. He voted for the program in Oct. 2008 when it was first proposed by the George W. Bush administration but has criticized it since it was extended under President Barack Obama.

He has introduced several bills and amendments to end the program, but Thursday was the first time one of them made it to the Senate floor for a vote.

Thirteen Democrats joined all 40 Republicans in voting for the measure.

Sen. Tim Johnson voted against the amendment. Johnson has criticized Thune’s attempts to end TARP in the past for handcuffing the ability of the government to respond to future economic crises.

Thune said TARP needed to be ended because the billions of dollars remaining could be used for purposes unrelated to the bill’s original intent, stabilizing major financial institutions.

“What I think will happen is this will become a permanent slush fund for Democrats in Congress,” Thune said.

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., criticized Thune’s amendment on the Senate floor prior to the vote. Dodd said Democrats wanted to use some of the remaining money to help community banks and homeowners.

“We need to get assistance and support into these smaller businesses and into these community banks in order that they can survive and get on their feet,” Dodd said. “After all the help that’s gone to Wall Street institutions, at the very hour we ought to be trying to help Main Street institutions — these smaller banks and smaller businesses — we will not have the resources to do it.”

Senators would never vote to appropriate new money for a second stimulus, Dodd said. He advocated spending the TARP money — which has already been appropriated and added to the federal debt — instead.

The TARP program was scheduled to end on Dec. 31, 2009. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner used his authority under the law to extend it until Oct. 3, 2010.

A total of $545 billion in TARP funds have been spent, of which $165 billion was repaid.

Under the program the Treasury Department has purchased more than $200 billion in assets from troubled companies, including Citigroup, American International Group, General Motors and Chrysler.