Thursday Geithner Watch

It’s April 16, and in Washington this year that signifies something more than a Tea Party hangover. It’s also the date by which Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was asked to respond to congressional questions about the administration’s plans to skirt congressional conditions on Wall Street bailout recipients.

As The Washington Post reported earlier this month, Treasury’s strategy is to create virtual middlemen through which the bailout funds will pass, thereby side-stepping certain behavioral restrictions on the banks, like limits on executive pay.

The plan caught the eye of House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), who last week sent a letter to Geithner requesting responses to six questions, most challenging the administration’s authority to ignore Congress as it pertains to regulating bailout spending.

Geithner was asked to respond by 4 p.m. today. No word yet if that’s happened, but you’ll know when we do.