Six months ago, Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, allocating $700 billion to the Treasury Department.  The Treasury then instituted the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, through which it distributed bailout funds to financial institutions.  The Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) was established to evaluate the effectiveness of Treasury's actions.  In its April report, the Panel assesses six months of TARP.  A 3-2 majority of the panel approves of the Treasury's general actions so far:

If its assumptions are correct, Treasury’s current approach may prove a reasonable response to the current crisis. Current prices may, in fact, prove not to be explainable without the liquidity factor. Even in areas of the country where home prices have declined precipitously, the collateral behind mortgage-related assets still retains substantial value. In a liquid market, even under-collateralized assets should not be trading at pennies on the dollar. Prices are being partially subjected to a downward self-reinforcing cycle. It is this notion of a liquidity discount that supports the potential of future gain for taxpayers and makes transactions under the CAP and the PPIP viable mechanisms for recovery of asset values while recouping a gain for taxpayers.

Here is COP Chair Elizabeth Warren discussing the April report:

You can read the full report here.

The panel's two dissenting members, Richard Neiman and former NH Senator John Sununu, offer an alternative view here.