国际英语新闻:Obama urges Congress to implement Wall Street reform

WASHINGTON, May 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday urged Congress to finish implementing Wall Street reform by finally putting in place banking rules he signed into law two years ago, in order to protect U.S. consumers and help the economy.

Obama, in his weekly radio and Internet address, criticized Republicans in Congress for trying to delay and dismantle the critical reform aimed at protecting consumers and making Wall Street play by the same set of rules, and shielding taxpayers from irresponsible behavior on Wall Street that nearly destroyed the U. S. financial system and cost millions of jobs.

"And yet, for the past two years, too many Republicans in Congress and an army of financial industry lobbyists have actually been waging an all-out battle to delay, defund, and dismantle Wall Street reform," said Obama.

Referring to the more than 2 billion-dollar trading loss at JPMorgan Chase, the biggest U.S. bank, Obama warned that "without Wall Street reform, we could have found ourselves with the taxpayers once again on the hook for Wall Street's mistakes."

"That's why it's so important that Members of Congress stand on the side of reform, not against it; because we can't afford to go back to an era of weak regulation and little oversight; where excessive risk-taking on Wall Street and a lack of basic oversight in Washington nearly destroyed our economy," Obama said.

"We've got to finish the job of implementing this reform and putting these rules in place," the U.S. president added.

Obama said that the new rules require that a big bank or financial institution should hold more cash on hand, so that it can pay for the loss, not the taxpayer, if it makes a bad decision.

The new rules discourage big banks and financial institutions from making risky bets with taxpayer-insured money, and encourage them to do things that actually help the economy, including extending loans to entrepreneurs with good ideas, to middle-class families who want to buy a home, and to students who want to pursue higher education, Obama said.