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WASHINGTON, July 21 (UPI) — The U.S. Treasury Department said it would start unwinding two options of the $700 billion bailout program that was designed to rescue the nation’s banks.

The first step would be to shrink the Troubled Asset Relief Program by $30 billion by ending a lending facility for small businesses that was never used, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The next step would be to end the Federal Reserve’s Term Asset-Backed Lending Facility, which was used sporadically and less than expected, the Journal said.

The moves are being made in anticipation of the financial reform overhaul that directs the Treasury to reduce TARP to a $475 billion fund and to forgo any new spending.

President Barack Obama is expected to sign the sweeping reform measure Wednesday.

“What we’re really doing here is shifting from achieving financial stability through TARP to achieving it through regulatory reform and all the capacities now created through this legislation to deal with the crisis,” said Herb Allison, the assistant secretary for financial stability at the Treasury Department.

“TARP continues to exist … they can still spend the same pot of money, not for new purposes but on the old purposes,” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, who advocated for shutting TARP down.

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