Dems: Shutting down TARP 'on the table' in Wall Street reform

By Michael O'Brien - 06/29/10 03:15 PM ET

Democrats will put forward a proposal to shut down the 2008 Wall Street bailout bill when they reconvene the conference committee on financial reform legislation this afternoon.

A House Democratic aide said they expect the conference to meet 5 p.m. Tuesday to re-open work on Democrats' Wall Street reform bill.

Part of those talks will include a proposal to shut down the $750 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) authorized in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis, and a proposal to use unused TARP authority to pay off the costs of the bill.

"The Democrats are putting on the table a proposal to shut down TARP and any unused TARP authority will be counted toward offsetting the cost of the bill," said the aide. "Taxpayers will never again be on the hook for paying for the costs of any future bank failures."

Democrats restarted the conference to make final changes to win support from Republicans in the Senate like Scott Brown (Mass.), who balked at voting for the final legislation over the inclusion of a $19 billion bank tax. Brown voted for the original bill in the Senate