Axelrod: Banks fighting rules overhaul

President Barack Obama’s advisers said banks that received U.S. aid have a responsibility to abandon a multimillion-dollar effort to block the overhaul of financial regulations and boost lending to small businesses.

“The most offensive thing is, we haven’t seen the kind of increase in lending that we should,” senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “ You’ve seen these same institutions spend tens of millions of dollars lobbying the Congress to try and stop financial regulatory reform.”

Appearing on three broadcasts, Obama’s top advisers faulted banking industry efforts to weaken the biggest overhaul in financial regulations since the Great Depression. White House officials are frustrated that companies are resisting after more than ...