Obama wants changes to bailout program

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- President-elect Barack Obama called Sunday for a retooling of the federal government's $700 billion bailout of the U.S. financial industry.

In an interview broadcast on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" program, Obama said the Troubled Asset Relief Program needs to be changed to increase the flow of credit to businesses and help families avoid foreclosure.

"I, like many, are disappointed with how the whole TARP process has unfolded," Obama said, adding that the program has lacked adequate congressional oversight.

"We found out this week in a report that we are not tracking where this money is going," said Obama, who takes office Jan. 20.

On whether he wants President George Bush to request the use of the second half of the bailout funds, Obama said only that he wanted to see the TARP program amended.

"What I've done is asked my team to come together, come up with a set of principles around how we are going to maintain transparency, what are we going to do in terms of housing, how are we going to target small businesses that are under an enormous business crunch?" Obama said.