Barney Frank

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Acting Speaker, the leadership that we have been given throughout this crisis by the permanent Speaker of this House has been extraordinary, and I am honored to yield her 1 minute.

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, our committee was joined this year by an extremely thoughtful Member who brings a wide range of relevant experience, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Foster). I yield him 2 minutes.

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I know this has been as difficult for the ranking member as it has been for me, and I appreciate the generosity of spirit he has brought to this. I now yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I yield to my colleague from Massachusetts, who has one of the best records in dealing with this set of issues in the Congress, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey).

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I yield 1 minute to a very committed member of our committee, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks).

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I yield 1 minute to the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee who has been playing an important role here, the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman).

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley) 1 minute.

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds. I ran for Congress because of the widespread feeling that Washington was broken. I believe that what is needed to fix it is a little less pandering to the ideological extremes, and a lot more compromise by reasonable people in both parties--particularly in this time of national crisis. So, will the spirit of bipartisan compromise carry the day? In less than an hour, I guess we will find out.

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Ellison), a member of our committee, 1 minute.

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 20 seconds.

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentlewoman an additional 15 seconds.

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I yield the gentleman another 15 seconds.

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I yield for a unanimous consent request to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel). (Mr. ENGEL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, there has been a great deal of discussion about the budgetary implications. No one in my experience here has had a better mastery of that process and had a more responsible approach to it than the current chairman of the Budget Committee, and I recognize for 4 minutes the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt).

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I yield for a unanimous consent request to the gentleman from California. (Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds. On page 58 the gentleman was right to object to the provision in the original bill sent to us by the Secretary exempting him from judicial review. We have disexempted him. If Members will look at page 58, he is now subject to appropriate judicial review. I now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota.

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds to correct an egregious misrepresentation of history. The gentleman just said that the Democratic leadership, I'm sorry, he said the Democrat leadership, I wouldn't want to misquote his adjective. He said the Democrat leadership, a point of great rhetorical significance to the large-minded on the other side, says that the Democrats fought GSE reform. The Republicans controlled this Congress from 1995 to 2006. No bill passing GSE reform went through. The Democrats took over in 2007. Within a couple of months this House, 4 months, this House passed----

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes. Madam Speaker, I have mostly appreciated the kind words directed at me. I say ``mostly'' because it has been my experience here that there is often an inverse ratio between the nice things people say about you and their inclination to vote for your bill. I hope we can overcome that in this situation. But I want to talk now--and we've worked on this in a compromise way, and I am proud to have worked with the whip and my ranking member counterpart and others across the ideological spectrum. And meeting a national crisis does not give any of us the luxury of doing everything we want. I hope we will come back here with more votes. And if we have more votes, the next time we negotiate I'll be tougher, but you have got to accept reality. I wish this was a bill that reflected more of my priorities. I wish I could eat more and not gain weight, but I have learned that acting imprudently on my wishes that cannot be realized is not helpful. But I do want to address those who share with me a commitment to dealing with people who are low on the economic spectrum. Madam Speaker, I do my work, and I work on a lot of the general issues. But if there weren't poor people in this world and if we didn't have discrimination, I wouldn't be here. That's why I'm here. What I have tried to do every time we've had a major bill, I'll be honest, is to use the leverage I get as chairman because there are things that everybody needs to put in for the poor people, to put in something for the people who don't otherwise get a fair shake. And sometimes there's a lot of other things in there. But I will tell my colleagues this, particularly my fellow liberals, if we aren't prepared to accept some of the things we don't like, we will not have the power to deliver for the people we care about. We do not unilaterally have the power to impose policies we would like, and therefore, a compromise is required. What do we have in this bill? I've got a letter I'm putting in the Record from every liberal advocacy group--not ACORN, I want to assure my colleagues over there before they have a conniption--but every other group, the Low-Income Housing Coalition, the Legal Aid Society, National Coalition for the Homeless. And it says: ``We are writing to thank you for the inclusion of measures to protect renters.'' People all over this country who rented, who didn't make an imprudent decision to buy a house, found themselves being evicted because somebody didn't pay the mortgage. We try to protect them against this. We try to keep subsidies. I tell you this, the lower-income people, the poor people, they will get nothing if we're not prepared to compromise some. Secondly, we have in here--and I understood what the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) was saying--very good language on foreclosure. Is it everything I wanted? No. But I'll tell you this, if this bill passes, we will have a Federal Government empowered to do, for the first time, significant reductions in foreclosures. Now, I don't know who's going to win in November, but I will tell you this, this will put in the hands of whoever the President is the power to do a great deal of good. Please don't throw it out because you're unhappy with some other provisions. September 29, 2008. Hon. Barney Frank, Chair, Committee on Financial Services, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman Frank, we are writing to thank you for the inclusion of measures to protect renters in this Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. The provisions that will allow renters with leases to stay in place and that provide for the continuance of existing protections for tenants, including rental subsidies, are very important to ensure that this financial crisis does not disrupt the lives of some of our most vulnerable citizens. Thank you for your leadership on this issue. Yours truly, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; City of New York; Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio; Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation; Community Service Society of New York; Jesuit Conference USA; Housing Preservation Project; Legal Aid Society; and National Coalition for the Homeless. National Housing Conference; National Housing Law Project; National Housing Trust; National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty; National Low Income Housing Coalition; National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness; Stewards for Affordable Housing for the Future; The Community Builders-- DC; and Urban Homesteading Assistance Board.

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick). (Ms. KILPATRICK asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I yield myself 30 additional seconds. The House passed the GSE reform that the Bush administration requested. We then asked the Secretary of the Treasury to put that into the stimulus. He said no. The Senate then did it in July--and the bill became law. So 12 years of Republican rule, zero action on GSE reform, a year and a half of the Democrats being in power and GSE reform was passed. I now yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee. (Mr. TANNER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I yield the gentlewoman 30 seconds.

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, while I believe the gentleman is a little bit too harsh on the Bush administration, I understand his point of view. Madam Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from Michigan, the dean of the House, for purposes of a colloquy. (Mr. DINGELL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, one of the most valuable members of the Finance subcommittee, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. McCarthy), is recognized for 2 minutes.

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. If the gentleman would yield, that would mean a great deal to me coming from anyone, but from the gentleman from Michigan, with his long record here in these areas, it means a particularly great deal.