Washington - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Wednesday warned that more banks would fail as the US financial system goes through a tough period of restructuring, and promised to use all powers at his disposal to ease the economic fallout.

Paulson asked for "patience" from the public and said it would take "several weeks" before the US Treasury began buying up troubled mortgage assets at the heart of the credit crisis.

Washington - US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the architect of a 700-billion-dollar rescue plan that failed in Congress Monday, warned that the federal government does not have the means to address the massive financial crisis arresting the US economy.

Paulson said he was "very disappointed" in the House of Representatives rejection Monday. He promised to continue working with congressional leaders to find some kind of compromise "as soon as possible."

Washington- The government's chief financial gurus plan to tackle growing public anger over the White House's mammoth bank bailout plan before Congress on Tuesday by painting a dire picture of economic collapse if lawmakers fail to act.

"The market turmoil we are experiencing today poses great risk to US taxpayers," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will say, according to a copy of his testimony released in advance.

Paulson, a former top Wall Street figure, and Federal Reserve head Ben Bernanke are to appear before the Senate banking committee starting at 1400 GMT.

Washington  - US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Friday said it would take a massive government intervention of "hundreds of billions" of dollars to prevent a total collapse of the financial sector in the United States.

Paulson said he would be working with Congress over the weekend on legislation that would allow the government to buy up banks' mortgage-related assets, which have plummeted in value and are at the centre of the current financial turmoil.