The idea is to make the money
available to the new administration shortly after Mr. Obama takes office Jan.
20. The often-controversial bailout has featured large infusions of money into
financial institutions that have done little to account for it.
Mr. Obama's fellow Democrats, who
control both houses in Congress, have expressed reservations about releasing
the remaining money unless stricter limits and protections are placed on how
the aid is used.
To obtain access to the remaining
$350 billion, the president must tell lawmakers he intends to tap the funds and
Congress would have 15 days to consider the disbursement.
White House spokeswoman Dana
Perino said Mr. Obama made the request to President Bush Monday morning.
"We will continue our consultations
with the president-elect's transition team, and with Congress, on how best to
proceed in accordance with the requirements of the statute," Perino said
in a statement.
The Troubled Asset Relief
Program, or TARP, has chiefly been used to give banks fresh capital so they can
return to normal lending after a credit squeeze triggered by toxic
mortgage-related assets.
But Mr. Obama and his fellow
Democrats want more of the money to go directly to consumers struggling with a
wave of home foreclosures and stricter limits to be imposed on those who
receive the aid.
"The best course of action,
of course, is to convince enough members of the Senate to vote positively for
the request," Mr. Bush said Monday during his final White House news
conference.
While the House of
Representatives is expected to consider legislation this week to add limits on
how the money is used, some Senate Democrats have questioned whether that
legislation could be passed quickly enough and said a letter of assurances may
suffice, Reuters reported.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman
Christopher Dodd says he's been told the Obama team will be providing
"specifics" on how the money will be disbursed.
Appearing nostalgic and sometimes
defiant in his last appearance in the White House briefing room, Mr. Bush gave
his view of the most urgent priority facing the incoming president: the
possibility of an attack on the United States. The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks changed the country and shaped his presidency.
"That will be the major threat,"
Mr. Bush said, putting the risk of another attack over the dire economic
problems now facing the nation.
Mr. Bush also spoke of other
threats posed by members of what he once referred to as an "axis of
evil." He said North Korea is "still a problem" -- and that it's
important that talks on that country's nuclear program bring about a
"strong verification regime."
"One of my concerns is that
there might be a -- a highly enriched uranium program," he said. "And
therefore it is really important that out of the six-party talks comes a -- a
strong verification regime," Mr. Bush said of Pyongyang's nuclear program.
He also described Iran as
"still dangerous."
The outgoing president also
repeated his long-standing call for creation of a Palestinian state while
urging Hamas to back off from its rocket attacks on Israel.
Asked how a cease-fire might be
brought about to end the violence that has been running rampant in Gaza Strip,
Mr. Bush replied that a "sustainable" cease-fire can only be possible
if Hamas retreats in its efforts to launch attacks on Israel.
Mr. Bush said that "Israel
has a right to defend herself." But he also that the Jewish state must be
mindful of the risk of civilian casualties.
Mr. Bush recalled the start of
his own presidency, called Mr. Obama "a smart, engaging person" and
said he wishes his successor all the best.
President Bush referred to the
enormous weight Mr. Obama is about to experience, describing what it might feel
like on Jan. 20 when, after taking the oath of office, he enters the Oval
Office for the first time as president. "There'll be a moment when the
responsibility of the president lands squarely on his shoulders,"
President Bush said.
As for his own presidency, Mr.
Bush defended his decisions on the Iraq war, the issue that will likely define
his presidency. There have been more than 4,000 U.S. deaths since the invasion
and toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
He said that "not finding
weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment." The
accusation that Saddam had and was pursuing weapons of mass destruction was his
administration's main initial justification for going to war.
Mr. Bush admitted another
miscalculation: Eager to report quick progress after U.S. troops ousted Saddam
Hussein five years ago, he made a victory speech in front of a "Mission
Accomplished" banner, a sign that turned out to be wildly optimistic.
"In the battle of Iraq, the
United States and our allies have prevailed," he declared triumphantly May
1, 2003, from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of San Diego.
"Clearly putting `Mission
Accomplished' on an aircraft carrier was a mistake," he said in Monday's
news conference.
The president also defended his
decision in 2007 to send an additional 30,000 American troops to Iraq to knock
down violence levels and stabilize life in the country.
"The question is, in the
long run, 'will this democracy survive?', and that's going to be a question for
future presidents," he said.
Mr. Bush also said that
"some of my rhetoric" has been a mistake. He has been widely
criticized for proclaiming "Bring it on!" to terrorists around the
world.
On Hurricane Katrina, another top
issue of his presidency, President Bush said he has "thought long and hard
about Katrina -- you know could I have done something differently, like land
Air Force One either in New Orleans or Baton Rouge."
But he also said he disagrees with
some criticism of the federal response to the storm.
"Don't tell me the federal
response was slow when there were 30,000 people pulled off roofs right after
the storm passed. ... Could things been done better? Absolutely. But when I
hear people say the federal response was slow, what are they going to say to
those chopper drivers or the 30,000 who got pulled off the roof?" he said.
The president cited his
"disappointment" with the revelations of abuses at the Abu Graib
detention camp in Iraq and in never turning up weapons of mass destruction in
the country.
"A disappointment, not a
mistake," he said, was failing to get three trade bills out of Congress,
dealing with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.
The last previous time the
president took questions from reporters in a public setting was Dec. 14 in
Baghdad, a session that hurtled to the top of the headlines when Iraqi
journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi threw his shoes at President Bush during a
question-and-answer session with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Mr. Bush refused to hold a
full-blown, formal news conference during the final several months of last
year's presidential campaign, fearing the questions would be mostly related to
political events and wanting to stay out of GOP nominee John McCain's campaign
efforts as much as possible. But even though aides had suggested that would
change after the election, he still declined to participate in a wide-ranging
question-and-answer session until now, just eight days before leaving office.
Mr. Bush singled out some
reporters by name who have covering him since his 2000 campaign. He also said
he saw new faces in the West Wing's Brady Press Briefing Room that signaled the
turnover in the changing news business.
"Sometimes I didn't like the
stories that you wrote or reported on. Sometimes you misunderestimated
me," he said, joking about his famous habit of occasionally mangling
words. "But always the relationship, I have felt, has been professional,
and I appreciate it."
The news conference, held in the
White House's press briefing room, comes as Mr. Bush has been granting a flurry
of legacy-focused interviews, often with niche interviewers and news outlets as
he seeks to shape the view of his presidency on his way out the door.
