WASHINGTON — Criticizing the lack of oversight and taxpayer protections in the Wall Street bailout proposed by Bush administration officials, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said they have acted with a “deer-in-the-headlights mentality” without fully fleshing out their plan.

In a Senate Banking Committee hearing Tuesday, Sen. Corker suggested that Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson be given some authorization to purchase a limited amount of distressed debt to help stabilize the markets, but further authorization should be withheld until a more concrete proposal is produced.

“This is a much bigger undertaking, this bailout,” Sen. Corker told the witness panel, which included Secretary Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and other officials. “And I don’t, by the way, criticize you for not knowing exactly what to do, but this is being done on the fly.”

Sen. Corker’s suggestion did not meet with much approval from the witnesses, with Secretary Paulson saying that the “extraordinary” credit crisis required immediate action.

But members of Congress on both the left and right appear increasingly uneasy with Secretary Paulson’s plan, which would allow the federal government to purchase up to $700 billion in debt with taxpayer money to rescue ailing financial firms. Senate Banking Committee members soundly criticized the proposal for the broad powers it grants federal officials to implement it.

“This proposal is stunning and unprecedented in its scope and lack of detail,” said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the committee. “It would allow (Secretary Paulson) to act with utter and absolute impunity — without review by any agency or court of law.”

Secretary Paulson said he envisioned using different methods to price the range of distressed securities that the government would buy up from banks under the massive plan, according to reports from The Associated Press. But he acknowledged that pricing the soured debt will be tricky, the AP reported.

“We asked for broad-based authorities to use a series of market-based approaches. We’ll be dealing with different approaches in different situations,” he said.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said he disagrees with the need for an independent oversight agency to monitor the federal government’s debt purchases, as many lawmakers have proposed.

“If (Secretary Paulson’s) tied down like Gulliver and is subject to endless second guessing, then he won’t be able to get anything done,” Sen. Alexander said. “We need aggressive oversight, but that’s Congress’ job.”

Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., agreed with Sen. Corker on the need to fully vet the proposal, which he said “stinks.” He said one issue that has yet to be broadly discussed is whether extremist Islamic groups would be able to buy the distressed debt from the federal government and thereby own significant American assets.

Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., a member of the House Financial Services Committee, was traveling Tuesday and could not be reached for comment. Secretary Paulson, Mr. Bernanke and other administration officials are scheduled to testify before the Financial Services Committee today.

Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Ga., said his constituents see the proposal as a bailout for Wall Street executives and investors with huge costs and little benefit for average Americans.

“Right now, there’s a disconnect, and most people don’t see how it affects them,” Rep. Deal said. “That connection has to be made for people to accept the plan, and it has to come from the White House.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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