TPMtv at Inauguration: A Chat with Rep. Barney Frank
TPMtv caught up with House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) today to talk about the full plate of economic challenges -- from the bailout to the stimulus -- that faces the president-elect and the new Congress this year.
Ever since the Democratic Congress decided simply to trust the incoming administration to spend its half of the $700 billion financial bailout more wisely than George Bush, I've been wondering why they didn't just pass a law setting those conditions. Incoming White House economic adviser Larry Summers has sent two letters to Congress detailing the Obama team's plans to use its $350 billion lifeline more responsibly -- but even the most well-intentioned letter doesn't have the force of law.
So it was a relief to hear today from Frank that Congress is reserving the right to play bad cop if banks resist the Obama administration's call for more foreclosure aid, for example.
Frank said that his bailout oversight bill will be a "sword of Damocles" hanging over the financial industry (not to mention the executive branch). If the second $350 billion isn't being spent the way that Democratic lawmakers or the Obama team envisioned, Frank explained, his bailout oversight bill can be passed by the Senate "in a very short period of time."
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Why didn't they just pass a law? Could it be that maybe they just didn't want the very first thing they did to be losing a veto fight with a new president of their own party?
January 19, 2009 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why are you still fretting about this? Of Course, Obama will have hell to pay if he broke his promise to Barney Frank and others regarding the use of this money. It would be wrong morally and politically to do otherwise.
January 19, 2009 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
So I'm not gonna do what everyone knows should and could be done, even though I've been bitching about it for weeks, because somebody told me I could trust them. And never mind that it is the very raison d'etre of my job to do these things according to law and without loopholes.
January 19, 2009 4:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe you missed something while working at the guardian. Telling Barney Franks that his bill is "fantastic" just rubs against everything journalists stand for. Are you interviewing him or just rubbing his ego. He might enjoy your brown nosing a bit too much. Shouldn't your approach be to criticize the bill. Does it go far enough? maybe pass a bill that the senate will approve? Or why even release the rest of the TARP money until we know that the first 350B was used in a "good" way. Be careful with your words. I understand that Barney can be aggressive, but that's not an excuse. I'm not asking you to be like Bill Oreily.
January 20, 2009 8:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe you missed something while working at the guardian. Telling Barney Franks that his bill is "fantastic" just rubs against everything journalists stand for. Are you interviewing him or just rubbing his ego. He might enjoy your brown nosing a bit too much. Shouldn't your approach be to criticize the bill. Does it go far enough? maybe pass a bill that the senate will approve? Or why even release the rest of the TARP money until we know that the first 350B was used in a "good" way. Be careful with your words. I understand that Barney can be aggressive, but that's not an excuse. I'm not asking you to be like Bill Oreily.
January 20, 2009 8:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
This may be off point, but can't Barney get cleaned up. What's wrong with him? I don't care who he thinks he is, he looks like --- well I better not say. I don't like his behavior and wish he had been replaced. I do not know another Rep or Senator who would do an interview looking like that.
The TARP bill is a fiasco and it's about time everyone realizes that. No oversight. No clue where the money went.
January 20, 2009 4:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, please, lisast, say. Tell us what Mr. Frank looks like. Like the smartest member of Congress, which he is? Does he look like a man who was reelected with 70% of the vote? Does he appear to be one of the few Democrats who was not cowed by the Republican steamroller in the early years of this decade? Like one of the funniest men who has ever served in Washington?
None of those? Then, please, do tell us what he "looks like" and why you wish he had been replaced. Worried souls await your answer.
January 20, 2009 6:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
A recent NEW YORKER profile suggested that the sometimes dieting Congressman buys his clothes in "aspirational" sizes, meaning that he looks like fifteen pounds stuffed into a five pound bag.
January 20, 2009 9:22 PM | Reply | Permalink