Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I would have thought my Republican colleagues would have waited a little bit more than 28 hours to so thoroughly repudiate George Bush. What this motion says is that George Bush used the authority to deploy $350 billion ``so badly''--direct quotes--``so hastily, so haphazardly, so without a plan, that nothing will fix it.''

Basically, we are told that President Bush drove the car so recklessly that we have to junk it. That because President Bush so misused these tools, we have to deny them to a new President.

Let's be very clear. The TARP has taken on in the minds of some of my colleagues on the other side an odd shape. It has become alive. It's sort of a horror movie in their minds. The TARP is this thing that has its own will.

No, the TARP is not something with its own will. It's a set of policies. George Bush's administration used them badly. Not, I think, as badly as my Republican colleagues say. That is why I think I am defending them. He didn't permanently destroy this.

Actually I did not take Dick Cheney's worry that I might be as a legislator making policy too personally because it's very clear, if
you see the vice president's approach, he doesn't think any legislator should be making policy, members of Congress, conservative or liberal, given his view of the Constitution. So I wasn't too upset.

I was a little troubled when one of my Republican -- soon to be no longer a colleague -- in his campaign in Indiana said that if the
Democrats won, Nancy Pelosi would allow me to implement the radical homosexual agenda. The problem is that he lost. He was the first
Republican declared defeated on Election Day, and that apparently left some people expecting me to produce a radical homosexual agenda, and I
don't have one. I felt inadequate.

I mean, I do think we should allow gay and lesbian people to serve in the military and get married and have a job but, by tradition of
radical standards, being in the military, working for a living and getting married are not the stuff of radicalism. So I'm still looking

“Good morning. This is Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

“The large jump in the unemployment rate in December is the latest sign that the economy is slowing down and most observers believe that this downturn will intensify.

“A crisis that spread rapidly from the subprime mortgage market to the broader financial markets, now threatens the entire economy and the well-being of American workers and their families.

“This week, the Federal Reserve reported that, in addition to major weakness in housing markets, manufacturing activity was down in most areas, and consumer spending during the holiday season was disappointing. According to the Conference Board, a leading business research organization that tracks consumer spending, consumers’ views toward the economy quote, ‘continue to paint a dismal picture,’ unquote, as Americans grow increasingly worried about their economic situation.

“Worse, this economic downturn comes after a period of growth that failed to benefit the majority of Americans. In fact, wages for workers are actually down in real terms since 2001, and income inequality has reached levels not seen since the 1920s.

A Timely Mortgage Fix (excerpt)
By Steven Pearlstein
The Washington Post
November 18, 2007

It is a red letter day when Congress is able to fight off the special interests, put aside partisanship, and actually address a serious economic problem. That’s exactly what the House of Representatives did last week with passage of a bill reforming the mortgage lending industry.

The bill sets national standards, outlaws fraudulent and abusive practices, and requires investment bankers to exercise a minimum duty of care in packaging and securitizing mortgage loans. The lion’s share of the credit goes to the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, whose focus, knowledge and knack for dealmaking make him a rarity in the Capitol these days…

It’s possible to quibble with some of the details of the legislation…On the other hand, Frank, a Democrat, is to be commended for standing up to consumer and housing advocates who opposed federal preemption of state laws and regulations, which in some instances are more stringent than in the House legislation…

Congressman Frank is the lead sponsor of The Protection Against Executive Compensation Abuse Act (H.R. 4291), which would require that stockholders of public companies be provided more information about senior management compensation packages, and require shareholder approval of executive compensation plans. The following are excerpts from recent media coverage of this issue.

Excerpt from May 24, 2006 Interview on Fox,s "Your World with Neil Cavuto"
Frank: "Well, I want to give the stockholders the right to make these decisions. I don,t think Congress or any element of the federal government ought to be setting the salaries.

But, we have this problem now where, frankly, the role of boards of directors as independent monitors has really failed us in a number of corporations. You have compensation consultants that get hired by the CEOs for the boards, and they get hired if they say they should get a lot of money.

What,s happening now is, CEO salaries and the salaries of a few top people have now risen to the point where they take away money that ought to be going to more productive purposes.

"While the Fed Chairman has shown little sign that ideology affects his monetary decisions, he is a very conservative figure and former adviser to Republican presidents. Barney Frank, Democratic congressman and one of Mr. Greenspan,s more thoughtful critics on the Hill, argues that the combination of Mr. Greenspan,s public role and personal beliefs can cause some problems.

The Federal Reserve chairman speaks first and foremost as head of the central bank, seeking to promote its policy goals.

But, says Mr. Frank, Mr. Greenspan sees it as his role to maintain good relations with the White House to protect the Fed,s independence and prevent political meddling. Third, he says, the Fed chairman "is a deeply and philosophically conservative guy".

January 2004 - "Some members of Congress, especially senators, have mastered the art of courtly nonspeak - they sound wonderful, but when you parse their sentences, they've said nothing. Others sound so much like policy wonks that they almost seem to forget that the issues they're debating affect human lives. Then there are the faithful who spout the party line. Then there's Barney Frank."

Fall 2003 - "The Brain. A handful of lawmakers are worthy intellectual adversaries who earn Greenspan,s respect and, at times, even strike fear in him. They are smart, do their homework, and go brain-to-brain with him, perhaps none more effectively than Representative Barney Frank..."

March 14, 2004 - "Frank carried the jobs debate to a level where the policy choices become so basic -- and challenging -- that ordinary pols and pundits fear to tread..."

March 4, 2004 - "I think it is a moral issue, a situation in which people receive millions, tens of millions of dollars in bonuses, a situation in which profits go higher and higher and the market is now doing well and we are all glad to see that, a situation in which the owners of capital find their wealth enhanced, but working people lose their health care, people are unemployed, children do not have adequate housing and other necessities. That is morally unacceptable to me."

--Barney Frank, from speech on House floor

February 24, 2004 - "Trying to decide what is the greatest hypocrisy in politics is a hard job, but I believe that by sheer dollar volume the support of many who call themselves free market conservatives for the leading aspects of America's agricultural policies qualifies for the prize..."