This month’s $700 billion rescue legislation included several provisions designed to increase transparency of government bailouts, including a requirement that the Federal Reserve report to Congress when loans are made under “unusual and exigent circumstances.” The Fed’s first reports appear to have fallen short of the transparency some lawmakers wanted.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.), who sought the provision, notes that the two reports he received — on the Fed’s new commercial paper program and its second loan to insurer American International Group Inc. — “make the Fed’s actions more transparent, which protects American taxpayers and allows the public and the market to be better informed during these difficult times.”

But he then goes on to acknowledge that the public actually won’t be informed about the Fed’s report about the $37.8 billion offered to AIG last week, on top of the $85 billion in credit extended initially. The central bank is requiring that it be kept confidential. (Most of the details in the report about the commercial paper program have been released publicly already.)

“I am disappointed that the Federal Reserve decided to require that their report on their second loan to AIG be kept confidential and not be made available to the public,” Sen. Dodd said in a statement Wednesday. “One of the best advances in monetary policy over the past decade has been increased transparency in the Fed’s actions. It is my hope that the Federal Reserve will become more transparent as they submit these reports so that we can continue to protect American taxpayers and restore confidence in our economy.”