President Barack Obama on Saturday accused Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, of waging a 'cynical and deceptive' attack against a measure to tighten regulation of the nation's financial system, and vowed to move ahead on the bill with or without the minority party's support. Obama used his weekly address to make the case for the bill, which would create a new consumer protection authority and impose new rules aimed at avoiding a repeat of the conditions that led to the economic meltdown of 2008. Republicans, led by McConnell, have asserted that the measure would encourage future bailouts by creating a fund to rescue companies whose failure would damage the broader economy. Some Democrats have also raised concerns about that fund, and the White House has suggested that it is not wedded to it. During a briefing with reporters earlier this week, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner noted that the fund was not in the White House's original proposal for the financial legislation. But Obama, using McConnell's title but not his name, suggested that the Republican leader is being duplicitous, and said McConnell had met recently with top Wall Street executives to talk about 'how to block progress' on the bill. 'Lo and behold, when he returned to Washington, the Senate Republican leader came out against the common-sense reforms we've proposed,' Obama said. 'In doing so, he made the cynical and deceptive assertion that reform would somehow enable future bailouts -- when he knows that it would do just the opposite.' Republicans and Democrats have been tussling all week over the measure, with Republicans threatening to vote not only against the bill itself but against allowing it to come to the floor for debate. Obama attacked 'special interests' for opposing the measure, and vowed that Democrats would move ahead however they could. There is broad agreement between the two parties that taxpayers should never again have to bail out financial institutions. But there is deep disagreement about the measure being drafted in the Senate. The bill would establish a $50 billion 'orderly liquidation fund,' financed by assessments on 'systemically important' financial institutions, as well as banks with at least $50 billion in assets. The measure would give the Treasury secretary authority to step in if such 'systemically important' institutions were on the verge of failure. Republicans are concerned about designating certain large financial institutions as 'systemically important,' and say that to do so would create a foundation for future bailouts. Democrats say the measure, approved last month by the Senate Banking Committee on a party-line vote, would not put taxpayers at risk, because banks themselves would be financing the rescue fund. 'My hope is that Democrats and Republicans can find common ground and move forward together,' Obama said in his address. 'But this is certain: one way or another, we will move forward.' 