Geithner on bailout money: If we need more, we'll make the case

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner -- noting on Sunday that the Treasury had up to $135 billion in uncommitted bank bailout funds remaining -- said on Sunday that if the agency needed additional money, he would make a strong case to Congress about it.

He was asked on ABC News program ‘This Week’ if the agency could get through the rest of the year with the funds it had.

“We have substantial resources and we're going to use them quickly, as quickly as we can, to make sure they're devoted to things that are going to get credit flowing again, Geithner said.

And we'll cross that bridge when we come to it in terms of whether we need additional resources. And of course if we come to that point, we'll go to the Congress and give them the strongest case possible and help them understand why this'll be cheaper over the long run to move aggressively.

He said bailout funds which were uncommitted were “roughly in the $130-135 billion range.” He said the estimate includes a “very conservative judgment, about how much money is likely to come back from banks that are strong enough not to need this capital now to get through the recession.”