Geithner Delays Bank Bailout Until Tuesday

The Treasury Department will wait until Tuesday to unveil the next bank bailout while lawmakers and President Obama debate their multibillion-dollar stimulus plan, the New York Times reports. “With record high job losses, and weakening economic forecasts, we’re focused on working with Congress to pass an economic recovery bill,” the Department said in a statement.

The bank plan—using $350 billion from last year’s bailout—may not force banks to lend the money, despite criticism that the first plan failed to spur lending. Obama says he will loosen credit by expanding a lending facility started by Timothy Geithner before he became treasury secretary. Of the new bailout, $50 billion will be spent on stopping foreclosures, the White House said today.
(More Obama administration stories.)