The financial system bailout may cost the U.S. more in taxpayer dollars than what has been already allocated, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday.

Geithner, testifying today before the House Ways and Means Committee, acknowledged that the President's 2009 budget includes a $250 billion placeholder for additional funds.

Last year the U.S. approved a $700 billion package to help financial firms weather the ongoing financial markets crisis which is a part of the broader recession which began in December 2007.

[The budget] acknowledges that, as expensive as it already has been, our effort to stabilize the financial system might cost more, Geithner said in prepared remarks.

[The placeholder] does not represent a specific request, he added, noting that the President would work with Congress to determine the appropriate size and shape of additional moves to help the nations’ finance and that the Administration would estimate a potential cost as more information becomes available.

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