Barney Frank (D-MA), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, proposed on Friday to impose new limits on companies receiving funds under the Troubled Assets Relief Program (a.k.a. "the bailout"). The Frank bill is poised for a vote in the House this week, timed to coincide with the joint Bush-Obama call for Congress to release $350 billion more in bailout money.

But what's this? While the Frank bill moves towards passage, Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) suggests that a letter of assurances from the incoming Obama administration, detailing its promises for responsible use of the bailout cash, could be enough to alleviate Dems' concerns.

From the Politico:

Dodd said he's prepared to draft legislation, mirroring a bill proposed by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass) last week, to call for a broadening of the TARP program and for more oversight, but he said that a letter from Obama's team - instead of additional legislation - could be sufficient to alleviate concerns in Congress.

"The Obama administration wants to rebrand this process," he said. "They realize it has been terribly mismanaged, they realize in order to be effective in assisting our credit markets to get them unclogged and moving again, this program has to be far better run than it has been.

Now, I'm not suggesting that the Obama administration harbors nefarious intentions to renege on its promises for stricter conditions on the second half of the TARP money. But a letter, no matter how well-intentioned, lacks the force of law -- and as Democrats take care to underscore their independence from Obama, they'd be well-served to make sure their oversight goals are set in stone.