It appears that Barack Obama plans to hit the ground running with Troubled Asset Relief Plan money in his pocket when he's sworn in next week, as the president-elect has asked the Bush administration to notify Congress on the executive branch's intentions to seek the remaining $350 billion in financial rescue funds.
Continue reading below
President Bush agreed to the request, which sets off a 15-day period
when Congress can vote to deny the release of funds. Obama is likely to
expand uses for the remaining funds from the $700 billion bailout
package passed in October. According to Bloomberg, Obama's team is
looking at using $100 billion of the money on a new initiative to stem
mortgage foreclosures. There have also been calls to use the money for
the program's original intent of buying distressed assets from the
banks in order to get them off the institution's balance sheets -- a move some economists believe is the only way to stabilize the banking industry.
While most incoming presidents have a honeymoon period, Obama is
unlikely to get a free pass on economic issues from Congress, which has been
very critical of the Bush administration's shifting strategy and poor
oversight of uses of the $700 billion rescue fund. -
George White
See story from Bloomberg
