According to a New York Times article posted Sunday evening, a senior administration official said on Sunday that after extensive consultations with Treasury Department officials, Representative Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, would introduce legislation as early as this week to address the issue of “too big to fail” institutions.

The measures expected to be proposed by Rep. Frank will be even more aggressive than the White House plan outlined so far, making it easier for the government to seize control of troubled financial institutions, throw out management, wipe out the shareholders and change the terms of existing loans held by the institution.

The senior administration official said the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, is planning to endorse the changes contained in Rep. Frank’s proposal in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday.

“These changes will impose market discipline on the largest and most interconnected companies,” said Michael S. Barr, assistant Treasury secretary for financial institutions.

Congress and the Obama administration consider the “too big to fail” quandary, i.e., how to deal with institutions that are so big that the government has no choice but to rescue them when they get in trouble, as one the most fundamental issues stemming from the near collapse of the financial system last year.

Please refer to the NY Times article, which was written by Stephen Labaton, for a more detailed discussion on this subject.