The Obama administration is pushing back against finance industry opposition to its proposal for a new consumer protection agency. The White House wants to establish the agency to monitor the products that banks and other institutions sell to consumers, including subprime loans. The finance industry has spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying and advertisements trying to derail the proposal. Speaking at the White House on Friday, President Obama criticized the finance industry opposition.

President Obama: “All this hasn’t stopped the big financial firms and their lobbyists from mobilizing against change. They’re doing what they always do: descending on Congress, using every bit of influence they have to maintain the status quo — that is, maximize their profits at the expense of American consumers, despite the fact that recently a whole bunch of those same American consumers bailed them out as a consequence of the bad decisions that they made.”