Democrats, Republicans and the White House all have different ideas on how to spend $200 billion in leftover bailout money.

Senate Democrats want some $40 billion spent on small business loans, said Politico.com.

House Democrats, meanwhile, want to see the additional TARP money spent on various economic projects, such as job creation and homeowner loan programs, to hasten a recovery from the recession.

The Treasury Department wants to use the money to pay down the deficit and create an emergency reserve. Senate Republicans want the money returned to taxpayers.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told members of the Joint Economic Committee said the administration is eager to end the TARP program but said the country is still facing huge economic problems. “We are working to put TARP out of its misery, and no one will be happier than I am to see that program terminated,” Geithner said.

Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, one of more than two dozen Senate Democrats who support directing some TARP dollars toward loans for small businesses, said his constituents “saw the big banks walk away with these bailouts and then at the same time ended up with huge salaries,” while small businesses received virtually nothing.

President Barack Obama’s stimulus bill promises billions of dollars to get the economy back on track, but many small business owners are still struggling to understand how to get their share of the stimulus pie.

To encourage banks to fund small business loans, the Treasury Department plans to buy $15 billion worth of securitized SBA-backed loans using funds from the bank bailout program, Dawn Williams writes in the Nashville Examiner.

The SBA also created the American Recovery Capital loan program, which provides deferred-payment loans to small businesses unable to pay current debt. No-fee ARC loans are interest free. Click here to find out more.

Small businesses also can take advantage of a number of tax cuts and credits, Williams writes. Among other provisions, businesses that sell goods and services to the government, businesses that reduce debt and businesses that invest in new plants and equipment in 2009 are eligible for tax breaks.

Find out more at: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/moneymatters/a/ecstimtaxes.htm.