Obama budget leaves open possibility of $750 billion more in bailout funds

By Ed Henry
CNN Senior White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) - In a potentially dramatic move, the budget blueprint that President Barack Obama will present to Congress on Thursday will leave open the possibility that he will need an additional $750 billion in bailout money, according to senior administration officials familiar with the spending plan.

The budget has what senior officials are carefully calling a "placeholder" that opens the door to the possibility that the president will need to tap an additional $750 billion in taxpayer money to buy troubled assets.

The officials stressed that the president is not yet officially seeking new bailout money on top of the $700 billion TARP bailout already authorized by Congress that could be tapped out by year's end.

Instead, officials stressed that as part of his commitment to truth in budgeting, as spelled out in his Tuesday address to a joint session of Congress, the president wants to be upfront about the possibility that he might seek more bailout money later this year. The officials also noted that they project that an additional $750 billion in bailout money would actually cost taxpayers only approximately $250 billion, because the government expects to get a return on some of the money it would shell out for troubled assets.

Nevertheless, even a placeholder for potential bailout money could be politically explosive because of the controversy surround the existing TARP program, which has been widely criticized by the president and leaders in both parties for poor oversight and accountability.