Bank settlements related to crisis-era mortgage abuses have steered half a billion dollars to liberal activist groups, subverting the congressional appropriations process, House Republicans charged Thursday.

At a hearing on the Obama administration’s settlements with banks, Rep. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee’s oversight subcommittee, said the deals had been structured to send money to “liberal activist groups,” an arrangement he referred to as “slush funds.”