Obama Presses for Financial Overhaul

WASHINGTON (TheStreet) -- President Obama Saturday urged lawmakers to pass an overhaul of the financial regulatory system and send it to him to sign.

"We're still digging ourselves out of an economic crisis that happened largely because there wasn't strong enough oversight on Wall Street," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address, the AP noted. "We can't build a strong economy in America over the long-run without ending this status quo, and laying a new foundation for growth and prosperity."

House and Senate negotiators reached agreement on the legislation early Friday after an all-night bargaining session, and Democratic leaders plan to push the overhaul through Congress next week.

But one proposal wasn't included in the compromise legislation: a tax on large banks aimed at getting back some of the taxpayer money the government used for bailouts during the financial crisis. And Obama said Saturday he wants Congress to send him that proposal as well, the AP reported.

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For their part, Republicans said the financial overhaul package doesn't address two institutions at the heart of the financial crisis: Fannie Mae(FNM) and Freddie Mac(FRE), the AP reported.

In the Republicans' weekly address, they said Obama should cancel unspent bailout and stimulus money to help reduce the deficit and take measures to help small businesses, the AP reported.

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