On behalf of President-elect Barack Obama, US President George W. Bush on Monday formally asked Congress for the remaining US$350 billion from the US$700-billion financial bailout fund.

"We have shared design and analysis of several foreclosure mitigation options with the transition team and anticipate the remaining funds will be used in part for a foreclosure mitigation program and for expansion of existing programs," said a White House report.

The Bush administration "believes that submission of this report at this time is consistent with the continued need to promote financial market stability," the report added.

But the White House said the current administration had no intention of allocating additional funds from the US$350 billion.

"I have talked to the president-elect about this subject. And I told him that if he felt he needed the US$350 billion, I would be willing to ask for it. In other words, if he felt it needed to happen on my watch," Bush said at a news conference on Monday morning.

Bush also defended his handling of the first US$350 billion.

"I readily concede I chucked aside some of my free market principles when I was told by chief economic advisers that the situation we were facing could be worse than the Great Depression," Bush said.

He noted that after taking extraordinary measures to deal with the frozen credit market, "credit spreads are beginning to shrink, lending is just beginning to pick up."

Congress approved the US$700-billion bailout plan last October, authorizing the US government to engage in the largest financial intervention since the Great Depression.

(Xinhua News Agency January 13, 2009)