The secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, predicted the Bush administration will prevail in its effort to convince Congress to pass legislation that would allow the government to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“I’m very optimistic that we’re going to get what we need from Congress,” Mr. Paulson said on the CBS News’s “Face the Nation” program. “Congress understands how important these institutions are.”

Mr. Paulson is pushing Congress to authorize the Treasury to purchase equity stakes in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which account for about half of the $12 trillion mortgage market, and expand government-backed credit lines to them.

He also said he wants the legislation to include a measure that gives “real teeth” to the companies’ regulator, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.

“We’re very close to getting reform,” he said in a separate interview on CNN’s “Late Edition” program. “These are very important organizations — they have a very important role to play — and we need to make sure that they have access to adequate capital to get through this period.”

The economy is in a “challenging time” and probably will have “slow growth” for “months” as higher oil prices prolong the slowdown, Mr. Paulson said on CBS. The banking system is “sound” and regulators are being “vigilant,” though some banks are starting to struggle, he said.

Mr. Paulson is scheduled to spend the next two days in New York for meetings with executives from financial services companies and to give a speech July 22 on the condition of the American economy and capital markets.

“Their regulator has said they have adequate capital,” Mr. Paulson told CNN. “There’s some worry, some concern in the capital markets, and that is why we came in with a plan to assure the markets that there will be adequate capital for them to meet all their needs.”