WASHINGTON — Ramping up his push for new rules over Wall Street, President Barack Obama will travel to New York City on Thursday to deliver a speech on his proposed regulatory overhaul.
The White House said Obama will make remarks at New York's Cooper Union, a science and art college.
"Almost two years after the crisis hit and almost one year after the administration first laid out a detailed plan for holding Wall Street accountable and protecting consumers, he will call for swift Senate action," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.
"The President will also remind Americans what is at stake if we do not move forward with changing the rules of the road as a part of a strong Wall Street reform package," Gibbs said.
Obama has been playing an active public role in pushing for a revamp of the financial sector and pressuring Republican lawmakers to support an overhaul. Republicans have dug in their heels, saying legislation proposed by the White House would guarantee future bailouts.
The White House disagrees. Obama used his weekly radio address over the weekend to lash out at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the chairman of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, for meeting with Wall Street executives to slow progress on the issue.
Republicans, in turn, have said Obama is politicizing the issue and criticized the White House and Democrats for not giving them quality room at the table.
One of the key sticking points in overhauling the financial sector revolves around derivatives, complex financial instruments that had a hand in causing the financial meltdown. The instruments are lucrative to firms such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Obama wants tough regulations on the instruments to help give more clarity to how they operate and said he would veto any bill without it. Republicans say clamping down on the derivatives would send them overseas, further from the public eye.
Legislation overhauling the financial sector has already passed the House but not the Senate. A vote on a proposed bill in the Senate might come this week, though Democrats need one Republican to avoid a filibuster.
