The U.S. government has written another check to bail out Wall Street.

Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and now the insurance giant AIG that was on the verge of collapse.

An 85 billion dollar deal in exchange the U.S. government will take over AIG and receive nearly 80 percent of the company stock.

Congressional reaction was swift.

“This is again serious mismanagement on the part of the administration that has refused to regulate an industry where apparently all the gain was privatized and all of the risk was nationalized. And I just don't think that's a fair deal for the American people,” said House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

The White House says the government had no choice.

That had the nation's largest insurer gone under it would have sent world markets into major upheaval.

But is this the last taxpayer bailout?

“I would be misleading you if I said I know. We are taking it on a case by case basis evaluating each one carefully,” said White House Spokesperson, Dana Perino.

The $85 billion loan is expected to be repaid with interest from the sale of AIG's assets. But full pay back is not a guarantee and ultimately taxpayers are on the hook for those billions.

“It is time for us to reexamine just how long the poor beleaguered taxpayer can be expected to bear all of the losses and bear all of the risk,” said Texas Representative, Jeb Hensarling.

AIG's problems stem from the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Critics say Wall Street was allowed to run amok - in the absence of oversight.

“Some of the regulators saw this coming. Unfortunately most members of congress told them to shut up. The fact that Fannie and Freddie were able to buy the silence of congress through campaign contributions and lobbying for the better part of the decade helped this problem to fester until it became multi billion dollars,” said Pete Sepp from the National Taxpayer Union.

Federal officials say there are taxpayer protections in place with this AIG deal. The U.S. government will be paid back with interest and will be paid first from the sale of any assets.

But the national taxpayers union says if this was so rosy of a deal, why wasn't the private sector lining up to bail out AIG. That fact tells us it could be a risky deal, a deal that taxpayers will have to pay for.