In a speech Wednesday to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Paulson said most of the new ideas circulating on Capitol Hill, which would generally provide taxpayer money to help reduce loan amounts and refinance mortgages at lower rates to keep homeowners from foreclosing, "are not ready for the starting gate."

"Most of the other ideas I have seen...would cause more harm than good," Paulson said in answer to question after his remarks.

Housing market woes have become a key part of the debate among the three remaining presidential contenders and members of Congress are agitating for action ahead of their elections.

It is unclear whether Paulson, a former chairman of Goldman Sachs, has the political insight to counter this momentum.

Indeed, there is a growing chorus of economists who think it would be a good idea for Congress to do more to stem the housing recession. These analysts think the Federal Reserve has been shouldering too much of the burden for reacting to the crisis and believe the central bank cannot push its short-term interest rate target much lower.

"My own view is that the sooner we recognize the need for some more intervention by the federal government, the better; delay will likely mean a further deterioration of the mortgage and housing markets and ultimately a larger cost to the taxpayer," said Lyle Gramley, a former Fed governor and now an analyst at Stanford Group Co.

In his remarks, Paulson repeated White House urging that Congress complete work on two measures awaiting final action that would modernize the Federal Housing Authority and overhaul federal oversight of Fannie Mae.

These two measures "are well on their way to the finish line -- let's complete this important legislation now, so we can implement them and help homeowners and our economy," he said.

Paulson said the Bush administration did not want to support any measure that might slow the necessary correction in the housing market.

He said homeowners experiencing negative equity do not need "a system-wide" solution.

Only people who want to keep their homes but can't afford the monthly payment because of an interest-rate reset and can't refinance because of negative equity need government assistance, and officials at the Housing and Urban Development have been tasked with examining what government programs can be a solution, said Paulson.

Paulson is walking a fine line as the Bush administration played a central role in the recent government bailout of Bear Stearns. The Treasury Secretary sought to distance himself from the Bear Stearns matter by praising the Federal Reserve's role in the rescue, even though Paulson has been described as one of the principle agents urging a quick sale of the company to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

Noting that the Fed has now opened its discount window to investment banks as well as commercial banks for the first time since the 1930s, Paulson said the Fed needed more oversight over the brokerage firms.

"The Federal Reserve should have the information about these institutions it deems necessary for making informed lending decisions," he said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has already invited Fed inspectors to work alongside their teams within the investment banks, Paulson revealed. "These regulators should consider whether a more formalized working agreement should be entered into to reflect these events," Paulson said.

Overall, Paulson indicated that the Fed's new lending to investment banks "raises significant policy considerations that need to be addressed."

Paulson repeated his call for U.S. financial institutions to raise additional capital to strengthen their balance sheets. "Go out and get it where it's available," he said. "It's available today."

The Treasury has been working behind closed doors on a new federal regulatory blueprint for the financial market. The work was underway before the financial markets froze last August but the turmoil has added some impetus and interest in the proposal.

Treasury officials have been cagey about when the report would be ready, and there had been some expectations that Paulson would use today's speech to unveil it. But the Treasury Secretary indicated the study was not ready and only said that it would be released "soon."