Washington  - The US government will seek access to the second half of a 700-billion-dollar rescue package designed to stabilize the financial system and some other US industries on the brink of collapse, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Friday.

With the US facing a prolonged economic recession, Paulson said he had allocated all of the initial 350 billion dollars appropriated by Congress in October.

Most of it has been used to invest in US financial institutions, many of which have been in danger of collapse since September, after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc filed for bankruptcy.

But on Friday the White House agreed to use 13.4 billion dollars from the fund to bail out US carmakers General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC.

Paulson said he would begin the process of seeking the next round of funds under the programme known as TARP. The money is likely to be released when a new Congress takes over in January under the watch of incoming president-elect Barack Obama.

"It is clear ... that Congress will need to release the remainder of the TARP to support financial market stability. I will discuss that process with the congressional leadership and the president- elect's transition team in the near future," Paulson said in a statement. (dpa)