(Adds details)
WASHINGTON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's administration is committed to moving as quickly as possible on measures to restore financial and economic stability and will ensure there are strict conditions attached to using taxpayer money, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Thursday.
"We have to do everything in our power and Congress does too to get that package moving, to get that money into the economy ... to give the American people some confidence going forward," Gibbs told a news briefing.
The U.S. economy has been in a yearlong recession after the collapse of its housing market sparked a global panic over bank losses, which stifled credit activity and made matters worse.
Gibbs said Obama wanted to ensure that future financial stabilization measures would include limits on executive compensation, and that any additional public money injected into banks to boost lending would be used for that purpose.
"Any money that a financial institution receives...that money is lent to the American people, so that families can borrow money to send their kid to college, or buy a car," Gibbs said.
Several hundred financial institutions have received capital injections under a $350 billion government-backed bank rescue plan and U.S. lawmakers have agreed to release an additional $350 billion to the Obama administration to restore financial stability.
The Senate Finance Committee earlier on Thursday voted 18 to 5 to back Obama's nominee for Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, and this move was welcomed by the White House.
"The president is very pleased that the finance committee voted out in a strong bi-partisan manner the nomination of Tim Geithner," Gibbs said.
Geithner, speaking to senators at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, said Obama's economic team hoped to deliver a comprehensive package of measures in the next few weeks to steady the financial system and restore normal lending conditions.
"The president is working throughout the day, every day to ensure that a rescue plan and financial stability package are implemented quickly," Gibbs said.
"The American people understand that things are likely to get worse before they get better. But I think that they can be reasonably assured that he's working hard every day to get the economy moving again as quickly as possible."