Weekly Address: President Obama Vows to “Collect Every Dime” of Taxpayer Funds that Helped Big Banks: “In this week’s address, President Barack Obama proposed a fee on major financial firms to recoup – on behalf of American taxpayers – the $700 billion paid out in TARP, saying “we want the taxpayers’ money back, and we’re going to collect every dime.” The President’s proposal will only affect the largest financial institutions with the most debt, so it will not only help recover the TARP funds and reduce the deficit, but also crack down on some of the banking practices that led to the financial crisis.”