Sen. Durbin baits bankers in Chicago

CHICAGO, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., invited bankers visiting Chicago for a meeting to tour a neighborhood he said had a foreclosure on every block.

With a handful of protesters by his side and an American Association of Banker's annual meeting in town, Durbin called on bankers "to visit 60629," a neighborhood near Midway Airport, The Chicago Tribune reported Monday.

"Nice, neat little brick bungalow homes well kept. Some swimming pools in the backyard. A lot of hardworking families. On every single block ... know what you're going to find? A foreclosed home," Durbin said.

While the protesters accused bankers of fighting financial reform in Washington, despite billions of dollars in federal bailouts, an ABA spokesman, John Hall, said the organization still opposed the formation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

"We just question if a new bureaucratic agency is indeed the answer, rather than working within the existing framework and improving it," he said.