Geithner says $700B bailout program will end soon

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is affirming the administration's intent to soon end the $700 billion financial bailout program.

Geithner did not provide details, but says the government is close to the point at which "we can wind down this program" and end it.

"Nothing would make me happier," he told the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Some lawmakers have been agitating for an exit from the politically unpopular bailout program that was put in at the height of the financial crisis last year.

Geithner also says legislation to bring transparency to the global, unregulated $600 trillion derivatives market was needed soon to restore confidence in the U.S. financial system.