WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Obama's top spokesman is promising that an overhaul of the financial system rescue plan introduced by the Bush administration will provide much greater spending accountability to the American people.
Speaking of new steps Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner plans to announce later Tuesday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said flatly: "It'll be more transparent."
The previous administration's disbursement of money under the first installment of TARP — the Troubled Asset Relief Program — has been widely criticized in both public and private circles as a process too secretive and unworkable.
Gibbs said that changes in the bailout system that Geithner is scheduled to announce will be aimed at making certain that banks getting taxpayer assistance will be "lending that money ... to people who need it."
He appeared Tuesday morning on ABC's "Good Morning America," NBC's "Today" show and CBS's "The Early Show."
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