The House of Representatives today voted against releasing the second part of the $700 billion TARP funds to the Obama administration.

The House by 270-155 passed the resolution, but the measure has virtually no chance of becoming law. The Senate last week rejected a similar resolution, thus allowing the Obama administration to tap the remaining $350 billion in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) created last fall.

The House also put conditions on the TARP:

By a vote of 260 to 166, the House agreed to require recipients of government cash to prove they are using the money to increase lending to consumers and small businesses, limit their ability to use the money to finance mergers, and bar them from paying bonuses to their top executives until the money is repaid.

The measure also would require President Obama to dedicate at least $40 billion to help distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure, in part by creating a "safe harbor" that would protect loan servicers that modify troubled mortgages from lawsuits by investors in those mortgages.

The problem is the Senate already failed to block the release of the rest of the TARP money, so this vote has zero effect.

Still, it shows the House at least has a spine and is going to act independently of the executive branch, as they should.

Here is the vote on H.R. 384.

Interesting since the House is overwhelmingly Democratic.