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Chapter 22. A Committee Chairman at Last
- University of Massachusetts Press
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485 22 A Committee Chairman at Last after twelve years of being in the minority, the democrats finally regained control of the house following the 2006 elections, and Barney Frank became a house committee chairman at last. it had been a long time coming. according to robert kaiser, the associate editor of the Washington Post and a friend from nSa days, every two years since as early as 1996, with unwavering optimism, Barney had expected the democrats to take back control of the house because he believed they were on the right side of almost every issue. “i think to the present day he doesn’t really want to acknowledge the democrats’ role in how things went south,” kaiser said after the elections. Barney was always “too optimistic , too certain.” “it has been hard for him.” Becoming a committee chairman , he added, “is really a big thing” for Barney. Barney became chairman of the committee on Financial Services, which has legislative jurisdiction over affordable housing programs, one of his passions, as well as insurance, banking, and the securities industry “in all of its recent, exotic transmogrifications,” as Barney described it. The committee also oversees the Federal reserve System and international financial institutions, such as the world Bank and international monetary Fund, as well as the economic reports mandated by the 1978 humphrey–hawkins Full employment act. Barney had always assumed that if he stayed in congress long enough he would become chairman of the Judiciary committee, since he was the second most senior democrat after John conyers, who was in his seventies. he did not expect to become chairman of the Financial Services committee. There he was behind chuck Schumer, who was ten years younger than he, and also behind John laFalce and Bruce Vento, who were about his age. But in 1999 Schumer was elected to the Senate, in 2000 Vento died of cancer, and laFalce, who had been the ranking democrat on Financial Services, did not seek reelection in 2002 because of the redistricting changes the new york legislature made following the 2000 census. chapter Twenty-two 486 The day after the 2006 election, in a speech to business leaders in Boston, Barney proposed a “grand bargain” to ameliorate some of the tensions between business and labor and make the system better for both. he called on the business community to increase the wages of its workers, stop busting labor unions, and support universal health insurance in return for the passage of legislation to break the gridlock on trade, immigration, deregulation, and foreign direct investment, and other economic legislation that business believes contributes to growth. it was an attempt to convey to the business community that while he was supportive of many of the things that business believes are necessary to take advantage of the efficiencies of globalization, unless business worked with congress to make sure that some of the benefits go to the people who get hurt, the business community was going to be stymied legislatively. Barney was subsequently disappointed that business in general and the Bush administration in particular showed little interest in supporting this “grand bargain.” however, after two years at the helm of the Financial Services committee, and after earning the respect and trust of the business community, he is hopeful that they will reconsider this “grand bargain” during the 111th congress. after the 2006 election, he recognized a need to be circumspect with his witticisms because what he said as the chairman of the Financial Services committee might have an effect on the financial markets. however, that was easier said than done. when the Securities and exchange commission changed its rules to loosen the reporting requirements for executive compensation just before christmas 2006, Barney joked, “i didn’t even know they had a chimney at the Sec.” “when Barney was first put on the Banking committee in 1981, there was a great deal of trepidation among the bankers in massachusetts about having a liberal democrat on that committee,” richard Goldstein, a former legislative assistant, recalled. “Soon the bankers came to love him. The bankers urged, ‘deregulate us,’ ‘let us compete.’” Barney, he said, supported the philosophy of deregulation. “he is a liberal who understands business.” Unlike many liberals, Barney believes that deregulation of industry is often good, even if it eliminates weaker competitors. “Supermarket chains do better for the consumer than the corner grocery. ma and Pa—i’m all for the concept, but they’re inflationary,” he observed. in Barney’s view...