Barack Obama wants strict guidelines for using the second $350 billion installment of the financial-rescue plan.
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“We can regain the confidence of both Congress and the American people in that this is not just money that is being given to banks without any strings attached and nobody knows what happens, but rather that it is targeted very specifically at getting credit flowing again to businesses and families,” the president-elect said yesterday on ABC’s “This Week.”
The interview was aired as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid indicated that President Bush and Obama officials are near agreement on asking Congress to approve the use of the remaining $350 billion.
“We’re waiting to hear from President Bush and/or President-elect Obama as to what, if anything, they’re going to do, and that’s occurring as we speak,” said Reid (D-Nev.).
Obama’s economic aides have talked with Bush administration officials about having Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson ask Congress as early as this week for access to the $350 billion.
Last week, the Congressional Oversight Panel raised questions about how banks are spending the first $350 billion, how the money will stem the spate of home foreclosures, and about the Treasury Department’s overall rescue strategy.
On “This Week,” Obama said he had asked his economic team to develop a set of principles to ensure more openness about how the money is spent.
“I think that when you look at how we have handled the home-foreclosure situation . . . we haven’t done enough there,” he said. With Post Wire Services