McCain says supports Fed move to extend lending

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Tuesday he would support a move by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to keep an emergency lending facility for big Wall Street firms open longer than originally planned.

"I support any effort to fix, to make our economy improve. Americans are still hurting. The economy is still worsening," the Arizona senator told reporters at a campaign stop in Pennsylvania.

"I have confidence that Bernanke's decision was a correct one," he said. "If that will help, then I'm for it."

Bernanke said on Tuesday the U.S. central bank may keep an emergency lending facility for big Wall Street firms open longer than it initially intended.

The Fed set up the so-called Primary Dealer Credit Facility, or PDCF, in March as part of its effort to facilitate the purchase of ailing investment bank Bear Stearns by JPMorgan Chase & Co. It said at the time the PDCF would continue for at least six months.

The lending program allows primary dealers, the biggest firms that deal directly with the Fed, to borrow directly from the Fed at the discount rate, currently 2.25 percent.

The Fed's action came after weeks of turbulence in financial markets had raised fears a credit crisis stemming from rising mortgage defaults was spiraling out of control.

McCain, who is focusing on the economy this week hoping to paint himself as more able than Democratic rival Barack Obama to fix the nation's financial woes, also said he wanted Congress to pass legislation on housing.

"Even though I didn't agree with all of this housing legislation, and that wouldn't have been the way I'd written it, we've still got to pass it. We've still got to work on fixing this economy," he said.

The U.S. Senate moved closer on Monday to passing the legislation, meant to save hundreds of thousands of troubled homeowners from foreclosure.

The legislation would create a government-backed mortgage insurance program with the power to refinance as much as $300 billion worth of failing home loans.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason, additional reporting by Patrick Rucker, editing by Alan Elsner)