Bush: credit markets beginning to thaw

Washington: US President George W. Bush said on Monday that the actions his administration has taken to thaw the frozen credit markets have helped and lending is starting to begin again.

"Credit spreads are beginning to shrink, lending is just beginning to pick up," Bush said during a news conference. "The actions we have taken, I believe, have helped thaw the credit markets, which is the first step toward recovery."

Bush said on Monday he would be willing to seek from Congress the remaining $350 billion of the $700 billion financial industry bailout, but President-elect Barack Obama has not asked him to do so.

"I told him that if he felt that he needed the $350 billion I would be willing to ask for it," Bush told a news conference at the start of his last full week in office.

"He hasn't asked me to make the request yet and I don't intend to make the request unless he specifically asks me to make it," Bush said.

Many lawmakers have criticised the Bush administration over how the first $350 billion of the fund was used.

Several Democrats in the Senate have demanded that the remaining money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, be released only if stronger limits and protections are adopted.

The TARP program 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 Obama and his fellow Democrats in Congress want more of the fund to go directly to consumers struggling with a wave of home foreclosures.

To get 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.

"The best course of action, of course, is to convince enough members of the Senate to vote positively for the request," Bush said.