Washington - As the Bush administration takes over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, released the following statement:

"As I await full details of this plan, I am troubled by the fact that when I specifically asked Secretary Paulson, Chairman Bernanke and Chairman Cox about a government bailout in the Banking Committee this summer, they could not foresee this situation. Instead, they were looking for a blank check from Congress. The questions now are, how much do they want and how long do they want it for? The burden they would put on taxpayers for a problem they exacerbated with their weak response must be made clear. I expect administration officials and financial market regulators to answer to members of the committee in the coming days and weeks."

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