WASHINGTON -- Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. received an angry and skeptical reception on Tuesday when he appeared before the Senate Banking Committee to ask Congress to promptly give him wide authority to rescue the nation's financial system.

Mr. Paulson urged lawmakers "to enact this bill quickly and cleanly, and avoid slowing it down with other provisions that are unrelated or don't have broad support."

The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, who appeared with Mr. Paulson, said the financial system "continues to be very unpredictable, and very worrisome," and that inaction could lead to a recession.