The federal government has agreed to a massive bailout of the banking giant Citigroup that could cost taxpayers almost $300 billion. The bailout is seen as the most sweeping rescue ever of a US bank. As part of the plan, the government will inject $20 billion of new capital into Citigroup, on top of $25 billion it already gave the bank. In addition, the government has agreed to back some $300 billion of Citigroup’s risky loans and securities. Before the bailout was announced, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York appeared on ABC’s This Week and said the government must take action to help Citigroup.

Senator Chuck Schumer: “I think what we learned with Lehman Brothers is you can say that the company made mistakes — and, boy, did they — but the ramifications of letting them go under affect millions of innocent people. And I think most economists who looked at letting Lehman go down now regard that as a mistake.”

Last week, shares in Citigroup plunged by more than 60 percent. The bailout of Citigroup was coordinated by the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.