The Hill News

Conservatives who have railed against candidates who supported the 2008 Wall Street bailouts are "wrong," a top Republican senator said Tuesday.

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, lashed out at members of his own party â€" as well as Democratic critics â€" of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) authorized by Congress in 2008 to save the financial system.

"Well, they're wrong," Gregg said of Republican critics of TARP during an appearance on MSNBC.

A number of Republican incumbents have faced difficulty this election cycle over their support for those Wall Street bailouts, facing the ire of conservative and Tea Party activists who opposed that support for the financial system.

Sen. Bob Bennett (Utah) lost his bid for nomination for a fourth Senate term as a Republican in large part due to his support of TARP, as did Rep. Bob Inglis (R), a more centrist Republican fro! m South Carolina.

Gregg was one of the lead Republican negotiators of the Wall Street bailout during the fall of 2008. He might have also faced a primary contest this year if not for his decision to retire at the end of his term.

He defended Republicans to support the bailouts back in 2008, when top economists and members of President George W. Bush's cabinet warned of calamitous effects on the global financial system without the bailout.

"TARP did what it was supposed to do â€" it basically saved the financial system on Main Street, too," Gregg said.