According to the Washington Post, President Obama is likely to support using remaining funds from TARP - the Troubled Asset Relief Program, a $700 billion bailout of the financial sector - to help pay for a jobs-creation bill in the works.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs alluded to Obama's endorsement of this idea in the President's upcoming speech on the economy on Tuesday of this week.
Something that does not get much publicity is that there remains about $139 billion TARP funds unallocated. Banks have returned $71 billion in aid, paid $10 billion in interest and dividends to Treasury, and this past week Bank of America announced it would repay the $45 billion it borrowed (although it has to first meet additional capitalization requirements).
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said that he would prefer to use the remaining funds to pay down the deficit, but these funds are attractive to lawmakers preparing an expensive jobs bill.
What do you think about using the remaining TARP funds to help pay for a jobs bill? Should we instead use that $ to pay down the deficit?
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- House to extend unemployment benefits, estate tax break; jobs bill delayed until 2010
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