Kirk calls for halting financial bailout he backed

SPRINGFIELD -- Senate candidate Mark Kirk wants to bring an early end to the government bailout of banks and automakers, a program he originally supported.

The Republican says the Troubled Asset Relief Program is no longer needed. Kirk says the government would save $16 billion by halting TARP immediately.

Even if no action is taken, the TARP program is supposed to stop accepting new projects next month.

Kirk, a five-term congressman, supported the program when the U.S. House voted on it two years ago.

In a speech Monday, Kirk said it was needed then but now he doesn't want to "spend more money that we do not have."

Democrat Alexi Giannoulias accuses Kirk of flip-flopping on the bailout.