President George W. Bush on Monday asked Congress to release remaining $350 billion in bailout money.
Bush said earlier Monday that he had told President-elect Barack Obama that he would be willing to ask for the additional $350 billion in financial industry bailout money if Obama thought that should happen while Bush is still in office.
Bush took questions Monday from news reporters at a previously unannounced news conference in the final days of his administration.
Bush will leave office at midday Jan. 20, when Obama takes the oath and moves into the Executive Mansion, becoming the 44th president.
The Bush administration and Obama have both been appealing to uneasy lawmakers for the money.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said he’s been told that the Obama team will be providing “specifics” on how the money will be disbursed.
Dodd said Monday that in order to win authorization of such additional spending, the government will have to do a much better job of accounting to the taxpayers for where the money already spent has gone.
He said he was encouraged by assurances he heard about help for people facing home foreclosure during a meeting with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, a key Obama economic adviser.
Dodd told CBS’s “The Early Show” on Monday that “I feel better this morning” about prospects for approval.
Dodd said earlier that more of the money will be used to help homeowners on the brink of foreclosure. He added that the incoming administration is going “to fundamentally alter” the way the program has been managed.
Senate Democrats said a vote could come later this week.
Bush would request the additional money for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, but President-elect Barack Obama’s administration would allocate it after he is sworn into office a week from Tuesday.
On Sunday, the president-elect and one of his key advisers sought to assure wary lawmakers that the money will be better monitored and spent.
The lawmakers were briefed by Summers, who John Kerry said “made a very strong argument for why it’s important and critical for the overall recovery.”
Obama has said that if nothing is done to lift the country out of recession, the downturn could last for years and the unemployment rate could reach double digits.
He’s pushing to get his stimulus package approved by Congress and points to a new analysis prepared by his economic team. It shows the plan would create or save up to 4.1 million jobs.
(Source: NBC News)
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One Response
I think that they should definitely release the money as soon as possible. Who cares what happened to the first $350 billion? Does it really matter to us if they used it to make 350 people into billionaires or if all 700 people got only $500 million?
The point is, we intend to make all 700 people into billionaires and there is no reason why they should be kept waiting. Holding back is just going to slow down their yacht orders.