Besides the fight over health care reform and the escalation of the war in Afghanistan, no issue in Washington has generated as much attention as financial reform. Just last week, the House approved a major bill -- against the wishes of the powerful financial services and banking lobbies -- to strengthen regulation of financial markets and banks. Without the anger of a recession-weary public and the hard work of consumer activists nationwide, that victory might never have been achievable.

On PBS' Bill Moyers Journal this past weekend, host Moyers profiled the work of some of these activists -- including the SEIU Illinois State Council (which sponsors this website), Action Now, and National People's Action (NPA) -- who gathered in October for the Showdown in Chicago, a string of protests that harnessed the growing public discontent with the banking industry. (We recapped our coverage of the three-day action here.) Moyers also sat down with NPA's George Goehl and Americans for Financial Reform's Heather Booth to discuss the impact these citizen initiatives are having in the nation's capitol.

"Change is hard. Partly because money, largely dominates politics, media, and so many factors of our life," Booth told Moyers. "These opposition forces, the insurance companies, the big financial interests, the big energy companies. They're still around. But this is a new moment. I actually believe that it is a historic opening. Not with a guarantee of change, but with a promise that there's an opening for change if we seize it." Watch the full video below (full transcript available here):