Obama team would attend talks on bailout funds: aide

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Members of President-elect Barack Obama's transition team are willing to attend a meeting between congressional leaders and the Bush administration about using the remaining $350 billion of the financial bailout fund, an Obama aide said on Friday.

The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stressed that Obama had not taken a position on whether Congress should allow Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to have access to the funds but said the president-elect's team would take part in a meeting if that were constructive.

Obama, a Democrat, takes over as president from Republican George W. Bush on January 20.

Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have struck a tone of resistance to releasing more bailout funds.

They sent a letter to Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday demanding more information on the $700-billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) before the rest of the money is let go.

The Obama team said earlier this week it had encouraged officials from Bush's administration to reach out to lawmakers on Capitol Hill about the issue.

"If they're going to ask for a second drawdown on the TARP, we would encourage them to meet with bipartisan leaders on the Hill to discuss it and, if helpful, we would participate in that meeting," the Obama aide said on Friday.

"We have not offered an opinion one way or the other on whether the second part of the TARP is needed."

A meeting about the issue has not been set up.

Aides said a report in the Washington Post that Obama's team had agreed to help Bush's Treasury department get access to the $350 billion was wrong.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by John O'Callaghan)