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Subscribe to RSSAfter more than three decades in Congress, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has announced his plans to retire at the end of his current term. Frank discusses what's behind his decision with TODAY's Savannah Guthrie.
Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank announced Monday that he would retire at the end of his term in early 2013, citing his redrawn district boundaries and his desire to write as reasons.
A longtime liberal stalwart on Capitol Hill, Frank said that he would leave the House after 16 terms primarily due to the way his 4th congressional district had been remapped as a result of Census-based reapportionment.
"I was planning to run again, and then the congressional redistricting came," he said at a press conference in Massachusetts.
Frank said that he wasn't particularly interested in the rigors of waging a full-fledged campaign -- particularly fundraising -- in a district that was mostly half new to him.
As chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Frank coauthored of 2010's financial regulatory reform law; he serves now as the committee's ranking Democratic member. Frank said he had been flirting with retirement for some time now, but was motivated to return to Congress for another term to help defend the law from Republicans who have pledged to repeal the law.
Frank also denied that Democrats' chances of winning back the House next fall played a major role in his decision to decline re-election.
Frank has long been a lightning rod for critics, in no small part because of his blunt comments to the press, and sometimes cantankerous engagements with Republicans. But for conservatives hoping that Frank fades into a quiet retirement, the outgoing congressman promised anything but that.
"I'm not retiring from advocacy of public policy," he said. Frank said his preference would be to write -- perhaps on an unfinished Ph.D. dissertation -- and speak freely on issues. He said he didn't anticipate practicing law, though he suggested he "might show up pro bono someday for a gay rights case." (Frank is one of only three openly gay members of Congress.)
At a news conference, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said that he was originally intended to seek one more term but changed his mind in part because the state's new redistricting. Watch his entire statement.
Frank also swore off becoming a lobbyist (He would be in a prime position to cash in because of his committee position.), while taking a shot at former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at that.
"I will neither be a lobbyist nor a historian," he said, referencing Gingrich's explanation at a recent debate of his work for troubled mortgage giant Freddie Mac as being in his capacity as a historian. "One of the advantages to me of not running for office is I don't even have to try to pretend to be nice to people I don't like ... and the notion of being a lobbyist, and having to go and try to be nice to people I don't like -- it would be ridiculous."
Gingrich and Frank have sparred publicly over the course of their respective careers, most recently when Gingrich suggested that Frank should be jailed for the policies the Massachusetts Democrat had supported, which Gingrich said had effectively triggered the housing crisis.
"I did not think I've lived a good enough life to be rewarded by Newt Gingrich being the Republican nominee. It still is unlikely, but I have hopes. I think he is," he said, calling the former Speaker's boomlet a repudiation of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
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You liberals make me wanna puke. Go ahead and get under the desk for Barney. That is how he uses you sissy gay lovers. None of you know squat about the constitution or the people who wrote it. All you want is your fat girlfriends welfare check. Go hang out with the OWS bunch. Your birds of a feather. Worthless.............
So now that you've given us a window into your life, what's next?
Good ridance. Hope he gets hit by a car full of democrats taking the non-working to vote. One down. Five hundred thirty four to go. This is a terrible person. Wishing him all the bad luck in the world.
Sorry to see him go but it's time for new faces and fresh ideas to come to Congress. Let me qualify that by stating new people with constructive, common sense, pro-American, anti-greed and corruption leanings. Hopefully the Democrats will hold onto the seat.
And there are pro-American, anti-greed and corruption democrats in this country?
Sure we need another person like Barney who lies before congress to keep Fannie and Freddie flowing in Billions so 10's of millions can be paid to Democrat Board members. Next thing you know is we will get someone to float 500Million to some solar company bad idea to pay back political contributions. Oh wait, that already happened.
Barney Franks' seat is wide open. No news here.
This flaming "A" Hole should not be allowed to be involved in any political office after what he has done to the average American. He will get a very large pension and free medical unlike the people he represented. What more does this "A"Hole need....Mr. Frank do us all a favor and crawl under a rock and stay there!!!! I can count on one finger the number of Washington politicians that you can trust. They have proven it time after time that they do not care about the average American...only their party and backsides.
They should All be fired....and no benefits. Oh, lets not forget the millions they all made with insider trading information. Nothing but a bunch of bastards!!!!!!
What this country needs is a French Revolution type event.....off with their heads!!!!! It worked for the French!
Baney Frank lied to me concerning the financial solvency of Fannie Mae and Fannie Mac:
hppt://www.breitbart.tv/barney-frank-fannie-freddie-problem/
He then helped orchestrate the world's largest bailout for those institutions, using my money. I'm not addressing Newt, Obama, or anyone but Barney Frank with this comment.
Again, good riddance, and hopefully more to follow.
Barney Frank..one of the worst pieces of Garbage ever!
And why does he keep getting re-elected?
YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID!
As far as the Birth Cert thing...it is a losing battle...we would need the media to help get the real "word" out there...it will never happen!
Hopefully Frank is one of many to follow! They know we are not going to vote for any incumbents therefore they will lose in 2012. That's great! Let's get all of them out of there!
The U.S. government on Friday sued 17 banking firms for their roles in the housing crash. The financial institutions are being accused of selling $196 billion dollars of now-toxic mortgage backed securities to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The Federal Housing Agency (FHA) filed suits against Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan chase and 14 others. FHA is the government agency that oversees Fannie and Freddie which raises questions. Is this just a maneuver for Fannie and Freddie to recover some portion of the massive losses that they were responsible for taking on?
Fannie and Freddie have notoriously backed loans with questionable characteristics. So-called NJNA (no job no assets) loans and loans where the borrower was likely borrowing more than they could afford. This created the easy credit climate where banks, under pressure from regulators and community groups like ACORN, were pressed to make sub-prime loans. Now, the government is coming after them.
The law suits will likely have a chilling effect on the economy. Banks as a whole will now be even more timid about being involved with FHA loans that are backed by Fannie and Freddie in fear of reprisals in coming years should the housing crisis worsen.
The banks have spent the last three years rebuilding their balance sheets. Now, the legal fallout from the mortgage crisis is creating a new wave of liabilities for them and uncertainty for the financial system. News that the economy added no jobs in August and that the lawsuits were pending slammed the stock market Friday and sent bank stocks tumbling. – The Wall Street Journal
Making it more difficult for home buyers to get loans will continue to weaken housing demand and depress prices. Current home owners will continue to see their equity, and therefor personal wealth, dwindle.
Bank were pressured by progressive groups and Democrat lawmakers to make loans to lower-income buyers that in many cases could not afford the homes they were buying. In order to defray the risk, financial institutions then packaged up those mortgages into mortgage-backed securities (MBS) which Fannie and Freddie then bought – as did many other institutions.
The suits are specific to the mortgage-backed securities sold to Fannie and Freddie stating that the banks misrepresented that the securities met the FHA's underwriting rules and overstated the ability of the borrowers to repay the loans.
While the President needs the banking industry to loosen lending rules to create any semblance of a recovery, having his administration go after the largest institutions able to do so will likely create yet another government impediment to growth in the economy.
On one hand the administration is asking these banks to make credit more available to home buyers and home owners while simultaneously suing them for having done just that in the past. That kind of uncertainty and mixed-messaging is precisely what is hindering an economic turn-around.
If the government wants to place blame, a closer inspection of FHA, Fannie and Freddie, and progressive housing policies should be their focus.
The institutions so far named in the law suits are: Ally Financial, GMAC LLC (or what was GMAC), Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, Countrywide, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, First Horizon , General Electric, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, First Franklin Financial, Morgan Stanley, Nomura Holdings, The Royal Bank of Scotland(RBS), and Societe Generale
Rich Mitchell is the Sr, Managing Editor of ConservativeDailyNews.com and a Conservative political commentator. You can follow Rich on twitter, facebook, Google+ and hear him on the air.
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Tags: banks, Fannie and Freddie, Fannie Mae, Federal Government, Financial, Freddie Mac
WOW!!
Small problem with the tale...the subprime lending boom occured between 2003 and 2006. If there were politicians forcing banks to make bad loans, they were Republican politicians, who held Congress and the Presidency during that period.
Google "Roland Arnall." He was Bush's largest individual contributor during the 2004 election. He also virtually financed personally the GOP Convention that year. At the time, he was founder and CEO of the nation's largest subprime mortgage lender. No doubt, he was "forced" into the political contributions, just as he was "forced" into making bad loans. Hahahaha.
Google "HUD 2004 Proposal for GSE Affordable Housing Goals." If Bush and Republicans were wary of Freddie and Fannie's subprime underwriting, why was Alphso Jackson, Bush's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, ENCOURAGING both of them to do MORE subprime underwriting and to lead the subprime market?
Stone6 Sure is funny that is was Bush who was the person before congress claiming there were problems with Freddie & Fannie and it was good ole Barney who stood before congress and po-pooed Bush's comments stating that Freddie and Fannie were sound institutions and in no trouble. That was nice of Barney to cover for Bush and the Republicans. I also suppose it was the Republicans on the boards of Fannie & Freddie getting tens of millions in bonuses. Oh wait, sorry that was also Democrats sitting as board members raking in millions in bonuses. I guess they were just running cover for the Republicans...
Kent, Bush had full control of Congress, House, Senate and Judiciary. He did nothing. Frank made the unfortunate claim that they were solvent, but it was long after the water had spilled over the dam, during Bush's watch. Frank had no real power until 2008.
The real cause of the failures was the repeal of Glass-Steagall, written by Phil Gramm (R), which removed the regulations, which protected us siince the "great depression" and enabled the credit default swaps..
Could be. There WERE problems at Freddie and Fannie. Double bookkeeping, excessive lobbying, etc. Plus, in my opinion (and the opinion of most Republicans...although I am not one of them at the moment), the government should have never been in the "housing business," particularly the "too big to fail" housing business.
But all of that is different from recognizing the subprime loan danger and the CRA and Democrats as the "cause" of the real estate melt down, leading to the broader economic breakdown. For the causes to those effects, you must look elsewhere.
Freddie and Fannie endulged in subprime underwriting, as a major part of their portfolios, late in the game. The famous YouTube video of Barney, Maxine Waters, and Mel Watts, voicing their defense of the GSEs, is from 2003. That year was the BEGINNING of the subprime mortgage boom...so, at the time, aside from the fact that Democrats were in the minority in the House then, making whatever they said largely irrelevant, the GSEs may have been in relatively good condition, IN RESPECT TO SUBPRIME UNDERWRITING, not to the double bookkeeping, lobbying, and/or moral hazard of being too big to fail.
I'd suggest that it wasn't until later...that the GSE lending responded to investor and affordable housing goals pressure, particularly near the bubble bursting point, when the Wall Street banks caught on and began dumping their junk on the GSEs, who were still buying.
he not only screws his own gender, but all that he suckered in by making Fannie and Freddie, back the American Dream of owning a home, who cares if you cannot pay for it, the government will. For that we reward him with a fat retirement!!! Only in America....
He must have found a little boy or something.....
Republican because all of us can't be on welfare!
Oh poor Barney. His district has been redrawn and it would be too hard for him to get out and campaign for once. I just can't believe what type of people kept him in office this long.
I am speaking for New York Politicians only, When they suddenly retire we normally get the grand jury inditment in about a month. I am sure none of the Honorable people of Masuchussetts would have to worry. Right......Barney?
Keep pointing at Newt and Mitt maybe people will stop lokking at you.
Too bad he retired instead of being impeached for tax evasion, graft, kickbacks and destroying the economy. If Freddie and Fannie had been reined in in 2003-04 when the red flag was raised, we could have stopped the real estate bubble and avoided this mess. Bur Barney said "that Freddie and Fannie were in good financial shape and not to worry."
Thank God this turd is finally bailing. Go open a bed and breakfast or scented candle shop.
,'-D
Very few inside or outside of government expected the real estate market to crash. If they had, the "bubble" would have never reached the proportions it did, nor burst so suddenly, with such devestating effect.
And, does no one herein catch the contradiction between a Barney Frank who took favors from banks and did their bidding versus a Barney Frank who forced the banks to make bad loans?
Read Henry Paulson's book, "On the Brink." The Freddie/Fannie melt down came quickly and unexpectedly. Paulson notes that one of the problems he had in going to Congress for permission to put the GSEs into conservatorship, in the Treasury Department, was the fact that the federal oversight agency, the FHFA, had just recently before issued a report attesting to the "financial soundness" of both of them.
stone, i was in mortgage banking at the time of the community reinvestment act. bubba, barney and co used fhma/freddie/hud and reno to subtle, and effective ends.
it was the forcing of lending institutions to give credit to people who we knew could not pay it back that caused the recession.
everyone knows this.
everyone.
Only those wishing to believe BS. And, IF you were actually one of the thieves, why should anyone believe you?
Try reading a book about the crisis. The CRA didn't cause the economic melt-down; greed and the return on high risk mortgages did.
The decline of lending standards hit bottom shortly before real estate values peaked. When you can no longer scrap the bottom of the barrel for potential borrowers, prices begin falling. That reversed the process.
While there was an earlier smaller subprime blip under Clinton, the subprime boom years were 2003 to 2006...check the bank lending records. And, the CRA NEVER required NINJA or no doc loans...which would have NEVER been made if they'd had to have been held and and could not have been passed up the chain for securitization and sale to investors.
There are a lot of books on the subject. You might want to start with "The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report." It was done by a commission of BOTH Democrats and Republicans; liberal and conservative economists.
Hey Mitch - Tell us how Frank forced the banks to lend to those who could not pay back the loans. Did he use a gun? Did he write legislation? No and no. You just believe everything Hannity and Fox News puts out. Frank is respected as one of the smartest congressmen on Capital Hill.
Typical Republican no nothings. Where are those WMD?
Unlike the many mentally handicapped idjits on here who never had teh chance to vote in Mr Frank's district I have and did every time he ran and would continue to do so. Mr Frank helped me to a great extent even after I had relocated out of state, unlike those new Representatives with an R after their name that I moved to.
I feel a deep sorrow for those that will lose the assistance of Barney's wonderful staff and Barney himself. As for those Mr Frank represented except for those that would nail Jesus himself to the cross and laugh about it, they will lose someone who took his job seriously and realized that he may not always be right and has said so more than a few times and he adapted to change unlike the GOP/TP morons who degrade him now. Thanks Barney and best wishes in your retirement.
I doubt the boys he was selling out of his basement would agree.
Frank my dear, we don't give a da*%. Why is this washed up loser still in office. I'll tell you this reflects badly on the character of his district. You know we would never let him get away with all the criminal activities down in the south. Maybe he'll retire down here and we can try to talk some sense into him.
Who cares about this guy. He buried us with the Housing ideas he supported! We need a new Congress of all Democrats to get out of the wars, pass a tax on the 1% and cut their own spending. Obama will get elected but needs to sharpen up! Wish Clinton had another shot! Last Balanced Budget under Clinton!
Didn't realize that the president came up with the budget. Way to go Mr. Clinton on that balanced budget..."Pause" Hows come my wife just shouted in my ear that the budget isn't done by the president.... No honey, I'm sure that if the budget was balanced under Republican majorities it would have been stated as such. Silly wife, I married her because I thought she was pretty...Thanks Clinton, you da man...
Generally, a budget is proposed by the President and either modified or thrown out by Congress. The proposal begins in the House, which is basically responsible for beginning the Appropriations process, which ultimately must also be approved by the Senate.
Of course, unless Clinton vetoed what a Republican Congress sent him, a certain degree of his cooperation was required, right?
Also, whether or not Clinton/the Republican Congresses actually created surpluses is today debatable by right wing think tanks, who claim the surpluses wwere created via games with social security.
At the time Bush entered the White House, the surpluses were taken as "real," and in large measure helped justify his proposed tax cuts.
Well, Barney can now do his thing, that of being a lobbiest. He knows that is where the money is in Washington. All the millions he collected as a congressman, a lot of it came from his lobbiest friends in the banking and insurance businesses, now he can cash in even more.
will barney become more involved in the "family" business now?
If I was to receive lifetime health insurance, benefits,pension, salary etc etc after retiring I would've retired long ago..OH! say can you see~~
Frank is a bad guy
Give them @#ll, Barney Franks.
retire now it's time to make those big $$$$ as a lobbyists use those connections