Obama to Direct More From Bailout Fund to Consumers, Aide Says
Email | Print | A A A
By Hans Nichols
Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama’s administration will direct more of the second half of a $700 billion financial rescue plan to open up credit for consumers and businesses and stem home foreclosures, his spokesman said.
The president will use the second $350 billion outlay from the Troubled Asset Relief Program differently than the Bush administration did, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
The president has asked his economic advisers for recommendations “specifically addressing home foreclosures; addressing financial stability in banks,” Gibbs said in today’s regular White House news briefing. He refused to give details.
Obama and lawmakers in Congress have criticized the way the fund was used, saying it was spent with too little accountability or transparency.
Obama is set to unveil a financial rescue plan that is likely to be larger and more ambitious than originally planned as the economy and banking system worsen.
Lawrence Summers, director of the White House National Economic Council, said yesterday the $350 billion in the TARP program will get the next phase of the rescue started.
“What ultimately will be necessary is something that will play out over time,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Obama’s plan will initially include between $50 billion and $100 billion for foreclosure-mitigation programs and an unspecified amount of money to stabilize undercapitalized banks to unlock the flow of credit to consumers and businesses, Summers said. He didn’t provide details of any other measures the administration is considering to help the banking system.
Stimulus Plan
Obama also is trying to build bipartisan support for an economic stimulus plan. He is meeting tomorrow with Republican members of the House and Senate, Gibbs said.
Caterpillar Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Home Depot Inc. led companies announcing plans today to cut at least 72,500 jobs as sales withered and construction slowed amid the global economic decline.
Obama, citing the job cuts at those companies as well as at Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. last week, said Congress must act quickly to approve economic stimulus legislation. Lawmakers are debating an $825 billion package of tax cuts and new federal spending backed by the president.
“We owe it to each of them and to every single American to act with a sense of urgency and common purpose,” he said at the White House. “We can’t afford distractions, and we cannot afford delays.”
Gibbs also said Obama today made calls to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
To contact the reporters on this story: Hans Nichols in Washington at [email protected];
Last Updated: January 26, 2009 14:38 EST
Email | Print | A A A
By Hans Nichols
Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama’s administration will direct more of the second half of a $700 billion financial rescue plan to open up credit for consumers and businesses and stem home foreclosures, his spokesman said.
The president will use the second $350 billion outlay from the Troubled Asset Relief Program differently than the Bush administration did, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
The president has asked his economic advisers for recommendations “specifically addressing home foreclosures; addressing financial stability in banks,” Gibbs said in today’s regular White House news briefing. He refused to give details.
Obama and lawmakers in Congress have criticized the way the fund was used, saying it was spent with too little accountability or transparency.
Obama is set to unveil a financial rescue plan that is likely to be larger and more ambitious than originally planned as the economy and banking system worsen.
Lawrence Summers, director of the White House National Economic Council, said yesterday the $350 billion in the TARP program will get the next phase of the rescue started.
“What ultimately will be necessary is something that will play out over time,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Obama’s plan will initially include between $50 billion and $100 billion for foreclosure-mitigation programs and an unspecified amount of money to stabilize undercapitalized banks to unlock the flow of credit to consumers and businesses, Summers said. He didn’t provide details of any other measures the administration is considering to help the banking system.
Stimulus Plan
Obama also is trying to build bipartisan support for an economic stimulus plan. He is meeting tomorrow with Republican members of the House and Senate, Gibbs said.
Caterpillar Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Home Depot Inc. led companies announcing plans today to cut at least 72,500 jobs as sales withered and construction slowed amid the global economic decline.
Obama, citing the job cuts at those companies as well as at Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. last week, said Congress must act quickly to approve economic stimulus legislation. Lawmakers are debating an $825 billion package of tax cuts and new federal spending backed by the president.
“We owe it to each of them and to every single American to act with a sense of urgency and common purpose,” he said at the White House. “We can’t afford distractions, and we cannot afford delays.”
Gibbs also said Obama today made calls to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
To contact the reporters on this story: Hans Nichols in Washington at [email protected];
Last Updated: January 26, 2009 14:38 EST
