Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. Obama: Wall Street Reforms Still Urgently Needed VOA News 24 April 2010 President Obama records his Weekly Address for 24 Apr 2010 Photo: White House President Obama records his Weekly Address for 24 Apr 2010 U.S. President Barack Obama says Wall Street reforms are urgently needed, even as the government ends many emergency programs that began during the financial crisis. In his weekly address Saturday, Mr. Obama said those programs helped prevent millions of people from losing jobs. He also referred to a Friday announcement by the Treasury Department, saying the 2-year-old "bailout" of troubled sectors of the U.S economy likely will cost less than $90 billion, down from an original estimate of $500 billion. Mr. Obama said to avoid repeating the financial crisis, the country needs a set of financial reforms and consumer protections, which he said would put an end to taxpayer bailouts and bring clarity to complex financial deals. But in the weekly Republican address Saturday, Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas said a Democrat-sponsored financial reform bill in the Senate does not stop future bailouts.  She said the bill contains serious flaws, which she said can be fixed with a sincere bipartisan solution. On Wednesday, the Senate Banking Committee passed a bill, the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010, aimed at ending government bailouts and protecting consumers from abusive financial practices. The legislation could face Senate debate next week. The lower House of Representatives passed its own financial reform bill, The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, in December. Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP. .