White House Waves Veto Pen Over Consumer Protection Agency

Posted September 29, 2009 at 2:17pm

The White House on Tuesday flashed the veto pen in the direction of K Street, vowing that President Barack Obama would oppose any attempt to water down his proposed consumer financial protection agency.“I think we have seen what happens, whether it’s credit card companies [or] mortgage companies, that the American people deserve an advocate on their behalf dealing with these entities,— White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. “The president believes that strongly and believes that at the end of the day, we’ll have a strong consumer finance protection agency working on behalf of the American people.—Gibbs stopped short of saying the White House would veto a financial reform measure that did not include a tough consumer financial protection agency — but not by much. “The president will fight for and fight against anybody in the special interests who don’t see it as an important part of financial regulatory reform,— Gibbs said.But Gibbs said he was unsure if the president will demand further changes to the defense authorization bill beyond the key demands of the White House, such as scaling back programs to provide funding for new presidential helicopters and for the F-22 and F-35 fighter programs.“We’ve talked in here about the F-22, we’ve talked about the alternative engine program for the F-35, we’ve talked about a series of presidential helicopters that the president did not believe was necessary — and we want to see that, most of all, addressed in this bill,— Gibbs said.