WASHINGTON — An Obama administration plan to dissolve large, struggling financial firms rather than bail them out is encountering Republican resistance, Democratic doubts and only qualified support from regulators.

At a House Financial Services hearing Thursday, lawmakers from both parties worried the proposal would give regulators and the executive branch unprecedented power.

"I'm not a man that fears this administration or you," Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., told Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. "But I do fear the accumulation of power exercised by someone in the future that can be extraordinary."

Others argue by singling out financial firms important to the economy, the government could inevitably set itself up to bail them out, and that even dismantling rather than rescuing them would take taxpayer money.

"Apparently, the 'too big to fail' model is too hard to kill," quipped Republican Rep. Ed Royce of California.

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., called the bill "TARP on steroids," referring to the government's $700 billion Wall Street rescue fund.

The debate comes as Congress works on legislation to respond to the financial crisis that clobbered Wall Street.