WASHINGTON: US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said some financial
institutions will need substantial aid, while warning against any
attempt to tax
investors who join a federal program to buy tainted assets from banks.
“Some banks are going to need some large amounts of assistance,” Geithner said on the ABC News program This Week. The terms of a $500 billion public-private program to aid banks “cannot change” for investors or they’ll lose confidence in the plan, he said on NBC’s Meet the Press.
The Obama administration is pursuing the most costly rescue of the US financial system in history while facing taxpayer concerns the aid is bailing out Wall Street firms that took excessive risks. After allocating about 80% of $700 billion in aid approved by Congress, administration officials want to keep open the option of seeking more.
Geithner said the Treasury has about $135 billion left in a financial-stability fund while declining to say whether he will request additional money. “If we get to that point, we’ll go to the Congress and make the strongest case possible and help them understand why this will be cheaper over the long run to move aggressively,” he told ABC News.