Critics say jobs programs will need congressional approval

The Obama administration is considering ways to deploy an estimated $200 billion in unspent funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to help create jobs, but members of an oversight panel warned that Obama would have to ask Congress to enact legislation before the funds could be used.

In a speech Tuesday, Obama said he would order the Treasury to use unspent funds from the TARP program, as well as funds being repaid by banks, to help finance a number of his job creation proposals, including small business loans, more infrastructure spending and a program to encourage homeowners to make their houses more energy efficient. The $700 billion TARP program was set up last year as an emergency measure to prop up banks suffering from the credit crisis.