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The White House
said Monday that President-elect Obama has asked President Bush to request the
remaining $350 billion of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) money. White House press
secretary Dana Perino said Obama asked Bush to formally notify Congress “on his
behalf, of his intent to exercise the authority under the emergency economic
stabilization act to access the last tranche of” the TARP money.
Perino said that
Bush agreed to his successor’s request and that the Bush administration will continue
consultations with Obama’s transition team and Congress “on how best to proceed
in accordance with the requirements of the statute.”
Earlier Monday,
at his final press conference as president, Bush said he would not seek the
remaining funds unless Obama asked him to.
“I have talked to the president-elect about this subject.
And I told him that if he felt that he needed the $350 billion, I would be
willing to ask for it,” Bush said. “In other words, if he felt like it needed
to happen on my watch.”
Bush added that “the best course of action, of course, is
to convince enough members of the Senate to vote positively for the request.”
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