Obama to make case on bailout, rally support for recovery plan

(CNN)President-elect Barack Obama will go to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to meet with Senate Democrats and make his case for how he wants to spend the second half of the $700 billion bailout, two Democratic sources said.

Obama will attend the weekly lunch of the Democratic senators in what will be his final visit to the Senate before his inauguration next week, according to the transition team. He's also expected to continue to push for his economic stimulus plan.

Obama has been making phone calls already to senators asking for their support, a senior Democratic congressional source said.

Obama is expected to meet with the Republican Senate caucus after the inauguration.

Obama on Monday made his case to Congress for access to $350 billion in remaining federal bailout funds, the White House and Congressional officials said.

In a letter addressed to the leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives, a top Obama economic aide laid out five priorities for the use of the remaining balance under the Treasury Department's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Read how Obama wants to use the money

Earlier Monday, Obama asked President Bush to inform Congress of his intent to use the remaining TARP funds, and Bush sent a request to Congress on behalf of the incoming administration.

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts, and his House Financial Services Committee meet Tuesday to look at how the TARP money has been spent so far. Democrats are calling for more accountability when it comes to distributing the funds.

Frank said Monday that the remaining funds should be made available "under the appropriate conditions."

"We should not allow our disappointment at the Bush administration's poor handling of the TARP program to prevent the Obama administration from using the funds in more appropriate ways," he said in a statement.

Frank said he hoped the House would pass a bill this week that would lay out the conditions necessary to assure the public gets "full benefit of these funds."

A vote on the House bill -- which requires the next installment of TARP funds to be spent according to stricter rules -- is expected as early as Wednesday.

"It seems clear the Obama administration agrees with what we are setting forward, and I believe this creates a framework so that the release of these funds can go forward," Frank said.

Meanwhile, confirmation hearings continue Tuesday on Capitol Hill for a number of Obama's Cabinet nominees, most notably Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, Obama's pick for secretary of state.

Clinton is expected to face tough questions, specifically about her husband and his foundation, but she is expected to be confirmed.

She plans to tell senators that her goals, if confirmed as secretary of state, will include a renewal of American leadership and a revitalization of diplomacy as a means of promoting the nation's security interests and advancing its values, a transition official said Monday.

In addition to testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, she will submit answers to many of lawmakers' questions in writing, the official said

source:CNN