House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Rep. Darrell Issa has introduced legislation that would require the use of XBRL to track TARP funds. HR 2392, the Government Transparency Act, would standardize the collection, analysis, and dissemination of business information using the XBRL reporting system.

“The technology exists to create real transparency that would allow us to track TARP dollars and value toxic assets but the Federal government is far behind the curve in implementing available solutions,” said Rep. Issa in a statement.

In an entry on The Hill's Congress Blog, Issa goes on to discuss the wide adoption of XBRL within other US organizations and around the world and the need for the federal government to catch up.

"But as it now stands, Uncle Sam is using an abacus to balance his books in a calculator age," Rep. Issa writes.

Mark Bolgiano, president and CEO of XBRL US, the consortium that supports the development of XBRL in the US, spoke before Congress in March in support of using the system to track TARP funds.