Administration to slash TARP cost $200 billion

The Obama administration is expected to slash the estimated cost of the Troubled Asset Relief Program by $200 billion, which could help trim the nation's bloated deficit.

The latest projection, which will be officially unveiled by the White House in the coming days, would cut the long-term cost of TARP to $141 billion, according to a Treasury Department official.

As recently as August, the administration had projected that the long-term costs of running TARP would reach $341 billion.