Treasury secretary says he'll act quickly

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he will work quickly but deliberately to implement the authorities he has under the financial markets rescue plan.

"This bill contains a broad set of tools that can be deployed to strengthen financial institutions, large and small, that serve businesses and families," Paulson said in a statement after the U.S. House of Representatives approved the $700 plan to stabilize the U.S. financial markets 263-171 Friday. The U.S. Senate passed the plan Wednesday.

U.S. President George Bush signed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 into law shortly after the House approved it. Among other things, it allows the Treasury secretary to buy up to $700 billion in bad assets from troubled financial institutions.

"This bill contains a broad set of tools that can be deployed to strengthen financial institutions, large and small, that serve businesses and families," Paulson said, adding there was no "one size fits all" solution.

"We will move rapidly to implement the new authorities, but we will also move methodically," Paulson said of his planned meetings with representatives from the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to develop the strategies.