WASHINGTON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama plans to meet on Tuesday with Senate Democrats to seek their backing for his request for the remaining $350 billion from the financial industry bailout, a Democratic congressional aide said on Monday.
It will be Obama's second trip to Capitol Hill in as many weeks and will come two days after his economic team lobbied Senate Democrats to support the request, as well as an approximately $800 billion economic stimulus package.
At Obama's behest, President George W. Bush sent the request for the $350 billion to Congress on Monday evening and lawmakers have 15 days to block it.
Obama and his economic team agreed to new restrictions and changes to the program to address concerns by fellow Democrats, who control both houses in Congress and have been critical of the Bush administration's handling of the funds so far.
Senate Republicans are likely to meet with senior Obama aides on Wednesday to discuss the request, a Republican aide said amid skepticism in their ranks as well about releasing the remaining portion of the $700 billion bailout.
The rescue program was approved in October to bolster the financial industry as it reeled under the stress of bad mortgage debts and several major institutions were threatened with collapse.
Both Obama and congressional Democrats have pressed for more of the money to go directly to consumers struggling to avoid home mortgage foreclosures and have been pushing for stricter limits to be imposed on companies that receive aid. (Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky; Editing by Bill Trott)