A day after Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson said the federal economic rescue program will not buy banks' troubled assets as originally planned, Congress is holding hearings to possibly institute more changes to the bailout.

The Congressional House Oversight Committee is holding hearings today to examine all aspects of the financial crisis, including the role hedge funds may have played.

The Senate Banking Committee will hear from financial executives on how effectively the government's rescue package has been.

It was an about-face yesterday from Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, who said the federal economic bailout that was originally called the "Troubled Asset Relief Program" would not be used to buy troubled assets.

Paulson said he'll continue to use the fund to buy direct stakes in banks to encourage lending.

He said when he first went to Congress about the bailout, the purchase of bad mortgages and other illiquid assets seemed like an appropriate plan, but since then the situation has gotten worse.

"The thing I'm grateful for we is we were prescient enough and Congress was that we got a wide array of authorities and tools under this legislation," said Paulson. "And I will never apologize for changing an approach or strategy when the facts change."

Asian stock markets tumbled today, reacting to the latest signs of a sharp downturn in the U.S. economy.