Obama urges consumer financial protection

WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama Saturday pressed for a creation of a consumer protection agency at the Federal Reserve to prevent predatory lending.

The president's weekly Internet and radio address focused on the need for financial reform and made no mention of Sunday's crucial vote in the House on healthcare reform.

Instead, the president focused on the need for a consumer protection agency that would advocate for "ordinary Americans and help enforce rules to protect them."

Obama criticized the "army of lobbyists" working against his administration's financial reform plans and he vowed to prevent loopholes for payday lenders, auto finance companies and credit card firms.

Obama said the nation needs common sense rules that would let financial markets "function fairly and freely" while reining in predatory practices that hurt consumers.

"That's the central lesson of this (financial) crisis," he said. "And we fail to heed that lesson at our peril."