Geithner Extends $700 Billion Bank-Bailout Program (Update2) - Bloomberg.com

By Robert Schmidt and Rebecca Christie

Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration extended the $700 billion financial-rescue program until October, arguing that the U.S. must hold on to the money in case of new financial shocks.

In a letter today to congressional leaders, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the department doesn’t expect to deploy more than $550 billion of the funds. The Treasury may expand the Federal Reserve’s Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, an effort to jumpstart securitization markets, and will continue to use the Troubled Asset Relief Program to help struggling homeowners and small companies, he said.




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