Barack Obama defends new consumer agency

NEWS
Barack Obama defends new consumer agency
Saturday, April 17, 2010

••• President Barack Obama on Saturday challenged opponents of tougher U.S. financial regulations, saying the U.S. is doomed to repeat the economic crisis without new rules and that American taxpayers would again be stuck with the bill.

The bill is the next major piece of legislation that Obama wants to sign into law this year.

“Every day we don’t act, the same system that led to bailouts remains in place, with the exact same loopholes and the exact same liabilities,” Obama said in his weekly radio and internet address. “And if we don’t change what led to the crisis, we’ll doom ourselves to repeat it.

“Opposing reform will leave taxpayers on the hook if a crisis like this ever happens again,” the president said.

A proposal that Senate Democrats are readying for debate creates a mechanism for liquidating large firms to avoid a meltdown. The bill also would regulate the derivatives market for the first time, create a council to detect threats to the system and establish a new consumer protection agency to police people’s dealings with financial institutions.

On Friday, Obama promised to veto the bill if it doesn’t regulate the market for derivatives, instruments such as mortgage-backed securities that contributed to the nation’s economic problems after their value plummeted during the housing crisis.

But Democrats have yet to agree on how far such regulation should go, and all Senate Republicans are solidly against the bill. That opposition complicates Democratic efforts to get the 60 votes necessary to overcome likely Republican procedural roadblocks.

Republicans contend that a provision creating a $50 billion fund for dismantling banks considered “too big to fail” would continue government bailouts of Wall Street. Obama administration officials say such a fund is unnecessary and they want Senate Democrats to remove it.

Obama criticised financial industry interests for opposing the proposed regulations and for waging a “relentless campaign to thwart even basic, common-sense rules”. He repeated his call for Republicans and Democrats to work together to overhaul the system but made it clear that Democrats are prepared to go it alone.

“One way or another, we will move forward,” he said. “This issue is too important.”

In the weekly Republican address, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor criticised government spending and climbing deficits that he said are driving taxes higher.

Cantor said Obama has enacted 25 tax increases passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress that will cost families and small businesses more than $670 billion over the next decade and create a “bleak future for our kids and grandkids”.

He urged a vote for the Republicans in the November congressional elections.

“You have to take action so that we can begin to erase our deficits and free our children from our debt,” Cantor said. “And rather than putting the squeeze on our nation’s job creators and entrepreneurs, we believe in a pro-growth strategy to create jobs and empower the American entrepreneur and small business people to thrive.”