Obama Pushes for Finance-Reform Vote

“Wall Street reform will bring greater security to the folks on Main Street,” President Obama said in his weekly address on Saturday, urging passage of a financial overhaul bill being debated on Capitol Hill. The legislation, the most extensive revision of the nation's finance rules since the Great Depression, sets up mechanisms to look for risks in the financial system, methods for liquidating too-big-to-fail firms, and new consumer protections. There has been bipartisan agreement on some areas in recent days, but there’s still plenty of contention between Democrats and Republicans over issues like the creation of a new consumer-protection agency. “My responsibility as president isn’t just to help our economy rebound from this recession; it’s to make sure an economic crisis like the one that helped trigger this recession never happens again,” said Obama.