US vice president says reform of Wall St ends uncertainty

THE passage of Wall Street reforms by Congress helps the US economic recovery now under way by easing uncertainty that had been holding back investment, Vice President Joe Biden said yesterday.

Biden said financial regulation legislation passed on Thursday would encourage businesses that were hesitant about expanding to move ahead.

“The very uncertainty they had (has) now been settled by the passage of the reforms. They didn’t know which way they were going to go. They didn’t know how much was going to happen,” he said in an interview.

The Senate gave final congressional approval to the sweeping shake-up of rules designed to tighten financial industry oversight, limit risky lending practices at the root of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, and create a consumer watchdog agency.

“It’s passed. And they’re going to know how to deal with it,” Biden said.

The bill, a year in the making, is set to be signed into law by President Barack Obama on Wednesday. It joins healthcare reform as another key legislative achievement by Obama this year as the Democrats try to maintain political control in congressional elections on 2 November.