THE HILL: Members sought TARP cash for banks back home. “Several prominent lawmakers have pressed one of the nation’s top bank regulators to rescue financial institutions in their home states with money Congress allocated for government bailouts. In letters, e-mails and faxes to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), senior senators, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), wrote to agency Chairwoman Sheila Bair and others at the FDIC about applications by constituent banks for bailout funds under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). . . . Critics, including government watchdog offices, have charged that the TARP process and other decisions behind many of the government bailouts have been influenced by the political climate in Washington. Lawmakers who control the purse strings for the federal government can often sway an agency’s actions by personally lobbying for their constituents back home.”