Now this is welcome news. Congress gave its lickety-split approval yesterday to a bill that would extend a subtle but crucial authority to Neil Barofsky, the federal prosecutor who is serving as the inspector general investigating the Troubled Assets Relief Program, a.k.a. the financial bailout.

If you remember, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) raised a stink last week when he heard that Barofsky was delayed in getting data from bailed-out banks due to the limits of an obscure law called the Paperwork Reduction Act. The bill that Congress okayed last night, however, appears to make Grassley's concerns very moot.

It states that Barofsky's office does not need advance approval from the Justice Department to perform the following duties specified in the 1978 Inspector General Act:

(A) carry a firearm while engaged in official duties as authorized under this Act or other statute ...

(B) make an arrest without a warrant while engaged in official duties as authorized under
this Act or other statute ... for any offense against the United States committed in the presence of such Inspector General, Assistant Inspector General, or agent, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if such Inspector General, Assistant Inspector General, or agent has reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony; and

(C) seek and execute warrants for arrest, search of a premises, or seizure of evidence
issued under the authority of the United States upon probable cause to believe that a
violation has been committed