Mr. Liddy made his comments in testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

He testified after an opening statement by the panel's chairman, Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., in which the congressman said that ordinary taxpayers are indignant about the government's need to bail out AIG and are demanding transparency in the process.

"We are hearing, 'Trust us,' but we are not willing to let $180 billion go just on trust," Rep. Towns said. "We will question; we will inquire; we will verify."

In his specific comments, Mr. Liddy said, "If the marketplace holds the way it is right now, we think that the American taxpayer will be fully repaid."

He said AIG is now using $40 billion of funds under the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, has a $43 billion loan from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and access to $30 billion more from the Fed.

He did not speak of other guarantees, for example, the fact that the government is guaranteeing short-term credit needed by its International Leasing subsidiary. And, the government has also advanced cash to AIG in return for certain assets formerly collateralized by devalued residential mortgage-backed securities owned by its life insurance subsidiaries. Those assets are being held in "Maiden Lane" facilities created by the Fed Bank of New York.

At the same time, he said the Treasury Department is completing regulations that will govern AIG's bonus policy–a flashpoint in the recent past that has generated intense criticism not only for the company but also for the Obama administration and Fed officials involved in the bailout.

In other comments, he said that Treasury Department and Federal Reserve Board officials are playing a key role in strategic and policy decisions at AIG, and the company should never have gotten itself involved in the trading of derivatives and securities.

Instead, he said, the company should have stuck to its core insurance business.

In response to a question from a member of the committee, he voiced support for state insurance regulation. But, he said, it is critical that Congress add to that a systemic regulatory process as proposed in testimony last week before the Senate Banking Committee by Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Ms. Bair proposed that a committee of federal regulators have the authority to preempt an institution's primary regulator, regardless of the securities products it sells, if that institution engages in activities that could constitute a systemic risk.

While Ms. Bair supports a committee, the Obama administration, especially Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, indicated last week that it supported the Federal Reserve Board for that role.

In her testimony, Ms. Bair also proposed creation of a resolution authority that would have the power to take control of a potentially systemically risky institution–regardless of size and the products it sells–and either rehabilitate it or liquidate it.

A spokesman for Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said it is unclear when Congress will act on such legislation.

"As you know, we have not scheduled legislative hearings or a markup yet on the creation of a systemic risk regulator," said spokesman Steve Adamske.

"We will be prepared to move as soon as the legislation is ready," he said. "Mr. Frank has discussed July 4th as a tentative time to complete our committee's work, but that is not set in stone."

In response to questions from Rep. Towns and Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman and ranking minority member of the committee, Mr. Liddy also committed himself to sharing with certain members of Congress or staff the company's confidential "Project Destiny" reorganization plan that he has described "as a multiyear road map for the restructuring of AIG."

After conferring with AIG's outside counsel, he said he would provide the document only if the particular officials who would have access sign the same kind of confidentiality agreement signed by officials at the Fed and Treasury who have had a hand in developing the strategic plan.

He said that to let the document become public knowledge would hurt AIG's competitive position by providing confidential marketing data to competitors, and would as a result impair the company's ability to fully repay the government.

"We intend to pay back the government as soon as possible," Mr. Liddy said in response to another question.

"We hope we can start that in a matter of months," he added, noting that Treasury and Fed officials "are very involved" with AIG, in meeting with internal committees and its board.