US President Barack Obama urged Congress to pass the sprawling financial-overhaul bill lawmakers finalized this week, saying Democrats were close to a triumph over Wall Street lobbyists and other opponents of the legislation. "In recent months, they've spent millions of dollars and hired an army of lobbyists to stop reform dead in its tracks," President Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio address. "But because we refused to back down, and kept fighting, we now stand on the verge of victory." He urged Congress to "send me a reform bill I can sign into law, so we can empower our people with consumer protections, and help prevent a financial crisis like this from ever happening again." President Obama said the legislation, which is set for a final vote in the House and Senate next week, represents 90% of what he had first proposed for Wall Street reform. The bill would put in place "the strongest consumer financial protections in history" to ensure that credit card companies and mortgage lenders don't commit abuses, he said. President Obama argued the legislation would strengthen the economy by making complex financial instruments more transparent and by barring banks covered by federal deposit insurance from placing trading bets with their own capital. "Put simply, we'll end the days of taxpayer-funded bailouts, and help make sure Main Street is never again held responsible for Wall Street's mistakes," he said.
