White House Budget Keeps $250 Billion TARP Placeholder
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- New budget documents from the White House maintain
the $250 billion "placeholder" that officials say is a contingency in case the
administration needs more funds for its Troubled Asset Relief Program.
But White House Budget Director Peter Orszag reiterated Thursday that the
funds, which could finance that $750 billion in securities, are included "out of
an abundance of caution" and that the administration hopes not to use them.
"That placeholder was put in as a precautionary measure," Orszag told
reporters on a conference call. "You shouldn't read anything into the fact that
we continue to put forward the same proposals other than we felt it was the
appropriate principle to embody in the full budget what was embodied in the
February document."
The placeholder would be in addition to the administration's $700 billion bank
bailout program, but officials have said they don't expect to ask Congress for
more funds because there are adequate existing resources.
-By Henry J. Pulizzi, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9256; henry.pulizzi@
dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-07-091237ET
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