US President George W. Bush said Friday that "it’s going to take a while" for his economic rescue plan to bear fruit and charged his successor with carrying out an overhaul of US financial rules.
"The actions will take more time to have their full impact. It took a while for the credit system to freeze up; it’s going to take a while for the credit system to thaw," he said in a speech to the US Chamber of Commerce.
With just 18 days before the November 4 elections, Bush said whoever enters the White House in late January will have to "ensure that this situation never happens again" by updating US regulations on banking.
Citing US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s overhaul proposal and "good suggestions" from others, Bush declared: "Enacting these ideas into law must be a top priority for the next president and the next Congress."
Amid deep unease over the US government buying stakes in US banks — notably on the right flank of his Republican party — Bush defended the move as a "last resort" and denied that he had taken "a step toward nationalizing banks."
"This is simply not the case. This program is designed with strong protections to ensure the government’s involvement in individual banks is limited in size, limited in scope, and limited in duration," he said.
At the same time, Bush said he had taken "systematic and aggressive measures" and that "they’re big enough and bold enough to work, and the American people can be confident they will."
Bush’s speech came one day before he was to host French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso at his Camp David retreat for talks on the global financial meltdown.