Agencies Raise S&L; Bailout Cost to $190 Billion : * Thrifts: Congressional watchdogs say the Administration has underestimated the number of institutions that will fail. Meanwhile, Albert V. Casey, a former airline executive, is said to be in line for RTC’s top job.

Two Congressional watchdog agencies said Tuesday that the cleanup of failed savings and loan associations will cost significantly more than the $160 billion estimated by the Bush Administration.

The heads of the Congressional Budget Office and General Accounting Office told a House panel that the Resolution Trust Corp., the agency handling the cleanup, may run short of money even if Congress doubles its appropriation from the current $80 billion.

CBO Director Robert D. Reischauer predicted that the rescue of the nation’s thrift industry could cost more than $190 billion and involve the shutdown of 1,500 institutions. Both estimates are significantly higher than those of the Administration.

The CBO’s gloomy outlook was echoed by Comptroller General Charles Bowsher, head of the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress. “We should not kid ourselves, we probably have some additional losses coming,” Bowsher said at the hearing. “The trend is disturbing and discouraging.”

Separately, the current head of the RTC said Tuesday night that Albert V. Casey, a former head of American Airlines, is the leading candidate to take charge of the thrift bailout.

The 71-year-old Casey, who has served as postmaster general, “is an experienced executive and a very, very capable guy,” RTC Chairman L. William Seidman said.

As chairman, Seidman has also been the effective chief executive. He is leaving next month, and the board has wanted to appoint a separate chief executive.

Seidman said “two or three other people” are being considered, and the board will probably decide before the end of the month whom to appoint.

The chief executive’s position is being created by the RTC board on its own, and it will not require Senate confirmation. This fall, however, Congress could streamline the somewhat cumbersome structure by which the corporation and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. have the same board, and in that reorganization could make the chief executive’s job subject to confirmation by the Senate.

Casey, a native of Boston who lives in Dallas, was installed as head of the First Republic Bank of Dallas by federal regulators just before it failed two years ago. That $3-billion collapse will be one of the nation’s biggest bank failures.

The White House is asking Congress for additional funds to close insolvent S&Ls; and pay off depositors at about 1,000 thrifts. When interest costs are included, the S&L; bailout is estimated to cost taxpayers more than $500 billion during the next 40 years.

The CBO “anticipates more deterioration” in the weak institutions that have already been seized by the government and in those likely to fail during the next five years, Reischauer told the financial institutions subcommittee of the House Banking Committee.

His agency is more pessimistic than the Administration about the future of troubled real estate markets and their impact on the loan portfolios of troubled institutions. More loan delinquencies, increased foreclosures and extensive writedowns probably will generate bigger losses for the S&Ls; and a bigger ultimate price tag for the taxpayers, according to CBO projections.

Ultimate losses could range significantly higher, depending on the success of the RTC in selling its massive inventory of loans and real estate, Reischauer said.

“As a result, the actual cost of resolving failed savings and loan institutions will not be known until the last asset has been disposed of, which probably will be well beyond the year 2000,” he said.

The Administration says the RTC should complete its work of seizing failed S&Ls; by September, 1993, but Reischauer’s agency said large numbers of S&Ls; will face financial collapse, and a need for government takeover, until 1995.

His figure is much higher--500 more than the Administration--because CBO analysts expect many relatively small thrifts that now appear financially healthy will be unable to survive.

The RTC will run out of funds to close failed S&Ls; by the end of October, and the Administration wants Congress to approve $80 billion in new money without any new strings attached.

But many members of Congress have expressed anger with the RTC’s often cumbersome operating methods. There is growing support for a major reorganization of the governing structure of the agency, which is now dominated by an oversight board controlled by the Administration.

Reischauer urged Congress to act quickly on the funding, saying it is “critical . . . to avoid potential delays and disruptions and (to) minimize the added cost of further delays.”