US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is to urge a key Congressional hearing not to delay a $700bn (Ј382bn) bail-out of the US banking system.
Mr Paulson will tell the Senate Banking Committee that the personal savings of US citizens are at risk, according to his prepared remarks.
The Treasury wants unlimited authority to buy back the bad debt that is clogging the financial markets.
Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke, will back him by saying urgent action is needed.
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He added that the "economic maelstrom" was caused by a combination of "private greed and public regulatory neglect".
Doubts over how soon the rescue plan can be applied have emerged over the past days from both the Democrats and Republicans.
Under the draft Treasury plans, financial institutions with "significant operations in the US" are eligible to sell or auction their bad debts to the Treasury fund.
The fund would aim to sell off these mortgage-related debts in the future, when it says, their value may well have risen.
'Market turmoil'
That would mean a number of British banks could sell their "toxic assets" to the Treasury-owned bank via an auction.
"We saw market turmoil reach a new level last week, and spill over into the rest of the economy," Mr Paulson is expected to say.
"We must now take further, decisive action to fundamentally and comprehensively address the root cause of this turmoil."
He will add: "When the financial system doesn't work as it should, Americans' personal savings, and the ability of consumers and businesses to finance spending, investment and job creation are threatened."
Ben Bernanke's testimony will follow Mr Paulson's.
He is expected to defend the Federal Reserve's action to save insurer AIG from collapse.
"A disorderly failure of AIG would have severely threatened global financial stability and, consequently, the performance of the US economy," he is expected to say.
He will then go on to say that despite the efforts of the Federal Reserve, the Treasury, and other agencies, that global financial markets remain under extraordinary stress.
'Bold approach'
"Action by the Congress is urgently required to stabilise the situation and avert what otherwise could be very serious consequences for our financial markets and for our economy," he will add.
On Saturday, US President George Bush defended the plan, saying the cost to taxpayers of shoring up markets was better than the alternative of job losses and diminished pensions.
"I'm convinced that this bold approach will cost American families far less than the alternative," he said.
"Further stress on our financial markets would cause massive job losses, devastate retirement accounts, further erode housing values, and dry up new loans for homes, cars and college tuitions."
Some members of Congress are uneasy at the thought of the taxpayer taking on hundreds of billions of dollars of currently worthless debt.
(BBC)
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