On Sunday, the administration said it would provide capital and maybe buy stock in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the country's two giant mortgage financing companies.
Stocks in the two firms plummeted last week on fears they were holding billions of dollars in bad loans. The turmoil at Fannie and Freddie raised fears the home lending market may dry up, sending home prices into a tailspin.
"I don't think it's a bailout," said Bush, deflecting some criticism that the government should not rescue a private firm. "The shareholders still own the company."
On the gas price front, Bush reiterated his call for more drilling off the East and West Coasts and in Alaska.
"The only thing standing between these vast resources and the American people is action from Congress," he said. "The sooner Congress lifts the ban, the sooner we can get these resources from the ocean floor to the refineries to the gas pump."
There were two bans restricting drilling off most of the U.S. coast - one from the President and one from Congress.
On Monday Bush lifted the executive ban, putting pressure on the Democratic-controlled Congress to do the same.
