A fiery President Barack Obama used his weekly address this morning to challenge Senate Republicans on their refusal to name a consumer watchdog to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Making his case:
See, for too long, the rules weren’t the same on Wall Street as they were on Main Street. Risky bets were made with other people’s money. Some folks made a lot of money taking advantage of consumers. It was wrong. And this irresponsible behavior on the part of some contributed to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
He got specific about a measure that could fix the problem, then making it clear that Republicans are holding up action:
As the former Attorney General of Ohio, Richard (Cordray) helped recover billions of dollars on behalf of retirees and stood up to dishonest lending practices. He has the support of most Attorneys General across the country, both Democrats and Republicans. Members of Congress from both parties say he’s more than qualified for the job. And yet on Thursday, Republicans blocked his nomination. They refused to even allow it to come up for a vote.
That doesn’t make any sense. Do Republicans in Congress think our financial crisis was caused by too much oversight of mortgage lenders or debt collectors? Of course not. And every day America has to wait for a new consumer protection watchdog is another day that dishonest businesses can target and take advantage of students, seniors, and service members.
Slam! It's a two-fer as he also gets in a jab at the GOP for blocking payroll tax relief for the middle class, and wraps it up with a holiday-themed final jab (Maybe that makes it a "threefer", ...or triple-play?):
Now is not the time for playing politics. Now is the time to do what’s right for the American people.
No one should go home for the holidays until we get this done. So tell your Members of Congress, don’t be a Grinch. Tell them to do the right thing for you and for our economy.
A full transcript is available online at the White House website.
