Romer says $100 billion for toxic assets

WASHINGTON: A top economic adviser to President Barack Obama says the government plans to leverage $100 billion to ease the fallout on the US financial system from banks' bad assets.

Christina Romer says the money would be used along with private investments and help from the Federal Reserve to buy hundreds of billions in questionable debts on bank balance sheets. The goal is to thaw the frozen credit system and get lending going again.

Romer says the approach is one more piece in the administration's plan to revive the collapsing economy. Romer says she did not think Monday's expected announcement would cause the same kind of stock market plunge that greeted Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's original discussion of the plan last month.