HIGHLIGHTS - Geithner's testimony on budget, economic outlook

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The following are highlights of U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's testimony on Tuesday to the House Ways and Means Committee on the Obama administration's proposed fiscal 2010 budget.

GEITHNER ON THE COSTS OF DOING NOTHING

"This crisis is powerful in part because it comes after a long period in which you had a big boom in credit, people taking risk they didn't understand, people borrowing more than they could afford and governments borrowing beyond their means. That was unsustainable. If as a country we don't move aggressively to get people back to work and provide support for demand and growth, we are going to be living with a longer, deeper recession that will cause much more damage to the American people. Unless we move aggressively, the cost of the crisis will be much more damaging. The choice we are making is a fiscally responsible choice, not just the economically responsible choice. Not doing so will leave us with a longer, deeper recession and with much greater costs to the American people."

GEITHNER ON INTENTION TO REDUCE DEFICIT

"We have no choice as a country as we try to address the recession, (that) we make people confident here and around the world that we're going to have the will and the ability to bring these deficits down."

"The best way for us to sustain confidence in our country is to act to solve these immediate problems we inherited and to try to get the economy back on the path to sustainable growth."

GEITHNER ON NEED FOR CREDIT:

"You can see this across America as families find it difficult to get the financing they need to buy new houses and cars while businesses have trouble lining up the credit necessary to meet payroll.

"The contraction in credit is causing more job losses and further declines in business activity, which, in turn, is adding more pressure on the financial system."