Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says the cost of taking down large failing financial institutions will be borne by big banks, not taxpayers, under legislation that would overhaul the regulations governing Wall Street.

Geithner defended the legislation against Republican attacks that pending legislation would perpetuate bank bailouts. House and Senate bills would set up funds, financed by large financial institutions, to cover the costs of liquidating firms deemed too large to go through bankruptcy court proceedings.

Republicans have argued that the funds would not be sufficient and that taxpayers could still be on the hook to bankroll large failures. They also argue that emergency loan authority by the Federal Reserve could also amount to a financial bailouts.