Kashkari announced that investment consultancy Ennis Knupp & Associates had been chosen as the private firm that will help Treasury review proposals from asset management companies. He said that 70 companies had made bids to become the master custodian firm and that a final selection of the winning firm would be announced by Tuesday.

He said more than 100 companies had submitted bids to become one of the five to 10 firms that will operate the program to buy and manage the bad assets from financial firms.

Kashkari's speech Monday marked his first public appearance since being selected a week ago to run the program.

Paulson said during weekend meetings with global financial powers that his department was working around the clock to carry out the plan. His comments were meant to convince investors that the world's largest economy is moving quickly to get lending restarted and avert what could be a deep and painful global recession.

Those dire concerns sent markets around the world reeling last week, giving the Dow Jones industrial average it worst week on record. U.S. stocks have lost $8.4 trillion in value over the past year.

The Bush administration over the past six weeks has taken over the nation's two biggest mortgage finance firms, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and rescued American International Group, the world's biggest insurance company.

As the bailout bill rushed through Congress, Paulson stressed that the major aim was to buy bad assets, primarily mortgage-backed securities, from financial institutions. The hope was that taking those bad loans off the books would encourage banks to return to more normal lending operations and unclog credit flows — the economy's lifeblood.

Paulson said Friday that the government also would use some of the money to buy stakes in banks. The goal is to give banks the resources to resume lending at more normal levels.

That about-face has left the administration trying to decide how much to devote to buying bad assets and how much to use for stock purchases.

Lawmakers who pushed to include the stock purchase program in the rescue bill over initial administration objections say the stock purchases can start much faster than the effort to buy bad assets and help restore market confidence sooner.

While the administration is rushing to put the finishing touches on the rescue plan, House Republicans and Democrats pushed dueling economic stimulus measures.

House Republicans announced — but then backed down on — plans to demand that majority Democrats call Congress back into session before the elections to pass a stimulus bill.

Democrats, who are considering calling Congress back into session after the Nov. 4 election to pass their package, were meeting with economic experts Monday on the crisis and potential solutions.

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AP reporters Emily Flynn Vencat in London, Tim Paradis in New York and Julie Hirschfeld Davis in Washington contributed to this story.