Economic crisis to endure without new financial rules: Obama

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Economic crisis to endure without new financial rules: Obama

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18 April,2010 08:25 am

The US is destined to endure a new economic crisis that sticks taxpayers with the bill unless Congress tightens oversight of the financial industry, President Barack Obama said.The overhaul is the next major piece of legislation that Obama wants to sign into law this year, but solid GOP opposition in the Senate is jeopardizing that goal. 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 added. A proposal that Senate Democrats are readying for debate creates a mechanism for liquidating large financial companies to avoid a meltdown. But Democrats haven't agreed on how far such regulation should go, and all Senate Republicans are united against the bill. That opposition complicates Democratic efforts to get the 60 votes necessary to overcome likely GOP 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.