President Barack Obama proposed a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee on Thursday to make big banks and other financial institutions repay taxpayer funds that helped bail them out during the financial crisis.

My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed, Obama said in a statement released by the White House.

And my determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people -- who have not been made whole, and who continue to face real hardship in this recession, he said.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason)

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