WASHINGTON – Dec. 15, 2009 – President Obama vowed to “recover every last dime” of taxpayer funds that went to rescue Wall Street, as banking giants Citigroup and Wells Fargo announced plans Monday to repay Uncle Sam.
Obama met with top bankers at the White House Monday, urging them to help the economy by extending loans to good borrowers, chiding them for lobbying against tougher regulations and reminding them that “the American people” saved them from “a predicament largely of their own making.”
Since Congress passed a bailout bill last year, the government has handed out $370 billion (of a maximum $700 billion) in aid to troubled financial institutions and auto companies. But the money came with strings attached, including pay restrictions.
Banks, returning to profitability, had paid back $116 billion before Monday’s announcements:
