By Corey Boles Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- President-elect Barack Obama came to Capitol Hill Tuesday hoping to convince Senate Democrats to vote in favor of the release of the second round of $350 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program funding to the Treasury.
By the time he left, however, it remained unclear whether he was successful in convincing enough lawmakers of the dire need for more taxpayer money to be spent to rescue the ailing financial markets.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he was "very confident" that the votes would be there to make the funds available to the Treasury. But a number of Senate Democrats said they remain unsure of how they will vote, and there appeared to be very few Senate Republicans whose support Reid will be able to count on.
"I have a lot of serious reservations about providing additional funding given that the first $350 billion appears to have had little effect on the credit markets," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a moderate Republican who voted in favor of the first TARP legislation in October.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he also would vote against release of the funds.
One thing seems clear. A letter sent to Congress Monday by Lawrence Summers, who will head Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, didn't have its desired effect of winning over lawmakers.
The letter was intended to demonstrate that an Obama-led Treasury would keep Congress better informed about its TARP-related activities, and impose considerably tighter conditions on companies receiving funds through the program.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said the letter didn't go far enough to address her concerns.
Republican Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., went even further, saying he didn't think the missive was sufficient for the majority of Republicans.
Reid only needs 51 votes to defeat a resolution of disapproval introduced by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., that seeks to prevent the release of the money.
At least seven lawmakers who voted yes the first time around indicated they are likely to change their minds, and a similar number said they are still on the fence.
In the House, the likely outcome of a vote was described as "grim" by a senior House Democratic aide, and most people don't think there will be sufficient support for the second round being given the green light there without legislation formalizing conditions on the Treasury and the participating financial firms. The Senate has made it clear there is no time for such legislation.
The Obama camp only requires the support of one chamber, but it seems almost certain at this stage that it would have to be the Senate that is the more likely backer.
Obama officials are expected to meet with Senate Republicans to make their case to them on Wednesday.
The president-elect was boosted in his campaign by Donald Kohn, the No. 2 at the Federal Reserve. He, along with John Bovenzi, chief operating officer at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, urged lawmakers to release the funds.
Ultimately, if neither chamber strikes down the resolution of disapproval, Obama could veto it, thereby allowing the TARP funds to flow. Obama told Senate Democrats Tuesday that he would veto it, said Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., who said he would vote in favor of the funds' release.
But it seems certain that neither the incoming administration nor congressional Democrats want one of the first acts of the new president to be to override Congress to spend $350 billion in taxpayer money to pump into the banking system.
-By Corey Boles, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6601; corey.boles@dowjones.com
(Martin Vaughan and Michael R. Crittenden contributed to this article.)
Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=yl3e0jP09cP315g3He22hA%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.

Publié le 13 janvier 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones