New York: President Barack Obama said new financial regulations being debated by the US Senate will protect consumers from "the predatory practices of unscrupulous lenders" and prevent future financial crises.
Obama, in his weekly address on the radio and internet, said the legislation will ensure that consumers get the information they need to make financial decisions and "level the playing field" by subjecting all lenders to tough oversight.
"The Wall Street reform bill in Congress represents the strongest consumer financial protections in history," Obama said. "You have a stake in it if you've ever been treated unfairly by a credit card company, misled by pages and pages of fine print or ended up paying fees and penalties you're never heard of before."
The Senate has been debating legislation aimed at tightening Wall Street oversight after the financial crisis. The bill would be the biggest overhaul of financial regulation in more than 70 years.
Obama on Friday said the measure is needed to help prevent future financial crises from plunging the nation into recession.
"With reform, we'll make our financial system more transparent by bringing the kinds of complex, backroom deals that helped trigger this crisis into the light of day," Obama said.
Executive pay
The president also endorsed provisions in the legislation that would prevent financial institutions from growing so large they pose a risk to the entire economy, and rules that would let shareholders have input into how much corporate executives are paid.
"The reform bill being debated in the Senate will not solve every problem in our financial system, no bill could," Obama said. "But what this strong bill will do is important, and I urge the Senate to pass it as soon as possible."
In the Republican address, New York Representative Chris Lee criticised Democrats, who control Congress, for likely skipping the annual task of writing a budget for the US government.
"Families are making tough choices each month in order to live within a budget and government should be doing the same," Lee said.
Lee called the inability of Congress to pass a budget "a remarkable failure of leadership" at a time when the US is facing mounting deficits.
The government is projected to run $10 trillion (Dh36.7 trillion) in deficits over the next 10 years, with interest payments on the debt forecast to quadruple to more than $900 billion annually.
"This is a recipe for economic disaster," Lee said.
