12/27/2006
Chairman-Designate Frank "Very Disappointed" with the SEC's Decision
on Executive Pay Reporting Requirements
Newton, MA- House Financial Services Committee Chairman-designate Barney
Frank released the following statement on the SEC’s recent decision
to loosen executive pay reporting requirements: “I am very disappointed
with both the substance and the procedure used to reach the SEC’s
Christmas Eve decision to loosen reporting requirements for the pay of
the top executives of public corporations. It is especially ironic
that the SEC would relax the rules regarding stock options at precisely
the time that widespread abuses of the practice are coming to light." Read
full story.
12/07/2006
107 Members of Congress Call
for Extension of ILC Application Moratorium
Washington, DC- Today, 107 Members
of Congress led by Congressman Paul Gillmor (R-OH) and incoming Financial
Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) wrote to Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chairman Sheila Bair asking that the FDIC
extend its 6-month moratorium on all industrial loan company (ILC) applications
for federal deposit insurance by commercial firms until Congress acts
on this issue.
Read full story.
12/06/2006
Frank and Bachus React to
Guidance on Commercial Real Estate Lending
Washington, DC-
Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Spencer Bachus (R-AL) made
the following statement today on the guidance on commercial real estate
lending issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board
of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation.
Read full story.
11/16/2006
Statement of Congressman Barney
Frank on Poole's Comments on the Government Sponsored Enterprises
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney
Frank today made the following statement after reading press reports of
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President William Poole on the
Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE): "I am disappointed to read press
reports of Mr. Poole's comments questioning the very existence of the GSEs.
It is clear from his comments today that there is a lack of understanding
of the importance of the GSEs to affordable housing and mortgage markets..."
Read full story.
11/08/2006
Statement of Congressman Barney
Frank
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney
Frank today released the following statement:
"I
thank the people of the fourth district of Massachusetts for giving me
another opportunity to represent them in Congress. Yesterday, Americans
voted for change and Democrats now have the responsibility to lead the
House in a way that brings back civility and a sense of democracy to the
legislative process while advancing progressive values..."
Read full story.
11/02/2006
Bush Administration
Increasingly Relies on China and OPEC to Finance U.S. Debt, Report Shows
Washington, DC- The Bush
Administration has allowed the United States to become increasingly
dependent on foreign purchases of U.S. Treasury securities to finance the
federal budget deficit, and future U.S. national income will be depressed
by payments to foreign holders of U.S. debt, according to a new study by
Democrats on the Joint
Economic Committee (JEC) and the
House Committee on
Financial Services. Read full story.
10/27/2006
Statement by Congressman Frank
on the Release of Third Quarter Gross Domestic Product Numbers
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney
Frank today released the following statement on the release of third
quarter Gross Domestic Product numbers: "Today's Gross Domestic Product
number unfortunately indicates that the economy is slowing to an even
greater extent than had been widely expected. This is particularly
troubling given the wage stagnation over the past five years..."
Read full story.
10/18/2006
Frank Acknowledges OCC's
Planned Efforts to Support Minority Banks
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney
Frank today wrote to Comptroller of the Currency, John C. Dugan, to thank
him for agreeing to take steps to improve OCC's existing efforts to
support minority banks. The text of Mr. Frank's letter follows.
Read full story.
10/06/2006
Statement of Congressman Barney
Frank on the Employment Numbers Released Today
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney
Frank today released the following statement on the August employment
figures: "Today's announcement that only 51,000 new
jobs were created in September is extremely disappointing by any measure,
whether it's compared to the Bush administration's own projections or to
growth rates during the 1990s. The failure of the economy during the Bush
years to create jobs has led to a labor market in which, five years after
the 2001 recession, the vast majority of American workers have failed to
see real wage gains. Nominal wage growth of 4% for 2006 is barely above
the inflation rate and continues to lag productivity growth by a large
margin."
Read full story.
10/05/2006
Federal Banking Regulators
Faulted on Efforts to Support Minority Banks in New GAO Report
Washington, DC-
Congressman Barney Frank, the Senior Democratic Member on the House
Financial Services Committee, today expressed his disappointment in
federal regulator's efforts to support minority banks as outlined in a
newly released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. The GAO
study, "MINORITY BANKS: Regulators Need to Better Assess
Effectiveness of Support Efforts" found that none of the federal banking
agencies had assessed the results of efforts to support minority banks
through regular and comprehensive surveys or outcome-oriented performance
measures despite agreeing to do so 13 years ago.
Read full story.
09/28/2006
Frank Asks Federal Trade
Commission and Credit Bureaus to Respond to Consumer Complaints
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney
Frank yesterday wrote to the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) and representatives of the credit reporting industry asking that
they look into the numerous complaints from consumers about access to
credit reports and fraud alerts. Read Full
Story.
09/22/2006
Democrats Release Report on
Jobs and Wages in the Real Bush Economy
Washington, DC-
Democratic Members of the House Financial Services
Committee released a report on jobs and wages in the real Bush
economy.
Click here
for report.
09/21/2006
Democrats Strive to End
Bureaucratic Infighting that Undercuts the Financial War on Terror
Washington, DC- Democrats introduced
legislation today, led by Reps. Gwen Moore, David Scott, and Barney Frank
to force the Bush Administration to work together to help other countries
dismantle terrorist financing networks and keep Americans safe. The new
bill, the "Counter-Terrorism Financing Coordination Act," will direct the
Bush Administration to resolve turf wars and end bureaucratic infighting
that have raised questions about the effectiveness of the U.S.
government's efforts to assist other countries in the war on terrorism.
Read full story.
09/14/2006
Financial Services Committee
Members Write Bipartisan Letter on GSEs
Washington, DC- Members of the House
Committee on Financial Services today wrote a letter to Senators Sarbanes
and Shelby on the urgency of regulatory reform of the government-sponsored
entities (GSEs). Click
here for copy of letter.
09/08/2006
Statement of Congressman Barney
Frank on HMDA Data
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney
Frank reacted to today's release of the Federal Reserve staff article
entitled: Higher Priced Home Lending and the 2005 HMDA Data. Mr. Frank's
statement follows. Read full
story.
09/01/2006
Statement of Congressman Barney
Frank on the Employment Numbers Released Today
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney
Frank today released the following statement on the August employment
figures: "The job numbers for August further confirm the fact that
economic growth in the Bush years means higher profits for corporations
but no gains for the great majority of working people. "It's a sign of how
badly the Administration has failed to meet its own projections for job
and wage growth that they find good news in today's numbers only by
lowering their standards for success. When arguing for their tax cuts,
Administration officials repeatedly asserted their policies would produce
an average 200,000 jobs per month. Read full
story.
08/25/2006
Democrats Release Report on
Katrina Housing Failures
Washington, DC-
Democratic Members of the House
Financial Services Committee, led by Ranking Democratic Member
Barney Frank, today released a report detailing the Bush
Administration's housing failures in the year since Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita seriously damaged America's Gulf Coast region.
Today's report demonstrates the Bush Administration's failed
response to the housing needs caused by Hurricane Katrina, which
includes the legendary failures of FEMA, the indifference of HUD
(the federal agency responsible for housing policy) to the crisis,
woefully inadequate requests for housing reconstruction funds, and
opposition to numerous Congressional efforts to provide affordable rental
housing for working families. The conclusion is inescapable:
the Bush Administration's response to the housing crisis spawned by
Hurricane Katrina has been an abject failure.
Read full
story.
07/28/2006
120 Members of Congress Urge
HUD Not to Raise FHA Fees
Washington, DC- 120 Members of
Congress today signed a letter to Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Secretary Alphonso Jackson urging the department to withdraw a plan to
significantly increase fees on a wide range
of FHA affordable multi-family housing and health care mortgage loan
programs. The bipartisan letter, led by Barney Frank and Gary Miller, was
submitted to the department as the comment period for the fee increase
closes today. Read full
story.
07/28/2006
Frank and Gillmor Commend FDIC
For Six Month Moratorium on ILCs
Washington, DC- U.S. Representatives
Barney Frank and Paul E. Gillmor made the following statements on today's
decision by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to set a
six-month moratorium on the chartering or acquisition of Industrial Loan
Companies (ILC). Read
full story.
07/26/2006
Frank: SEC Decision Today on
Executive Compensation is a 'Good Start'
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney
Frank, the Ranking Democratic Member of the House Financial Services
Committee, today made the following statement on the Securities and
Exchange Commission's (SEC) unanimous adoption of new rules on executive
compensation. Read full story.
07/24/2006
Democrats Urge Financial
Services Committee to Consider Executive Compensation Legislation
Washington, DC- Democrats on the
House Financial Services Committee today called for the support of their
Republican colleagues to force the committee to consider-or
markup-legislation to require reasonable disclosure and shareholder
participation in executive pay structures. Because Financial Services
Committee Mike Oxley did not act on a Democratic request for committee
consideration of H.R. 4291, the Protection Against Executive Compensation
Abuse Act, Democrats are resorting to an option available under rules of
the House and Committee to force a markup. Click here for report.
07/20/2006
Democrats Release Report on
Jobs and Wages in the Real Bush Economy
Washington, DC-
Democratic Members of the House Financial Services
Committee released a report on jobs and wages in the real Bush economy.
Click here for report.
07/12/2006
GAO: No Real Changes in Diversity
of the
Financial Services Industry in 10 Years
Washington, DC-
Democratic Members of the House Financial Services
Committee reacted with disappointment over new findings released today by
the Government Accountability Office (GAO) which show little increase in
diversity of the financial services industry over the last 10 years.
Read full story.
07/10/2006
Gillmor and Frank Introduce
Bipartisan Legislation to Curb Retailers from Buying ILCs
Washington, DC- Congressmen Paul E.
Gillmor (R-OH) and Barney Frank (D-MA) today introduced bipartisan
legislation to close a loophole in the nation's banking laws that allow
retailers and other commercial firms to own industrial loan companies (ILCs),
also known as industrial banks. Read full story.
06/28/2006
Frank Announces Legislation to
Give Federal Regulators Authority Over Hedge Funds
Washington, DC-
Congressman Barney Frank, the Ranking Democratic Member on
the House Financial Services Committee announced today he will be
introducing legislation to authorize the registration and monitoring of
hedge funds, effectively reversing a recent Court of Appeals decision.
Read full story.
06/27/2006
Kanjorski and Frank Seek
Clarification on OCC Interpretive Letters
Washington, DC- Two senior members
of the House Financial Services Committee today wrote to Comptroller of
the Currency John C. Dugan seeking clarification on recent Interpretive
Letters issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
Reps. Paul Kanjorski and Barney Frank are seeking greater clarification on
the OCC's letters regarding the ability of banks to own and operate real
estate ventures. Read full story.
06/27/2006
Capuano, Kanjorski, Frank
Request GAO Report on Hedge Funds
Washington, DC- Representatives
Michael Capuano, Paul Kanjorski and Barney Frank today requested that the
GAO initiate a review into a variety of questions involving hedge funds
and the new regulatory oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC). Read full story.
06/23/2006
Statement of Congressman Barney
Frank on the Bush Administration's Secret Examination of International
Bank Data and Transactions
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney
Frank, the ranking Democratic Member of the House Financial Services
Committee, today made the following statement upon learning of the
Administration's program to secretly review international bank data and
transactions. Read full story.
06/20/2006
Frank Seeks Clarification from
Treasury Official
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney
Frank today released a letter to Treasury Undersecretary Randal Quarles
seeking clarification on his recent comments regarding the reform of the
Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE). The text of Mr. Frank's letter
follows. Read full story.
06/15/2006
Data Security Bill Will Erase
Protections for 149 Million Americans
Washington, DC- 149 million
Americans will lose important protections against identity theft if the
data security bill that passed the Financial Services Committee is
approved by Congress. At issue is whether consumers can proactively
freeze their credit files when they believe their credit has been
compromised, for example, a wallet or purse was stolen with sensitive
information or a data theft from a retailer or a government agency.
Read full story.
06/08/2006
98 Members of Congress Call for
Moratorium on ILC Applications
Washington, DC- Today, 98 Members of
Congress led by Congressman Paul Gillmor (R-OH) and Financial Services
Committee Ranking Member Barney Frank (D-MA) wrote to Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Acting-Chairman Martin Gruenberg asking that
the FDIC impose a moratorium on all commercial industrial loan company (ILC)
applications for federal deposit insurance until Congress has acted on the
issue. Read full story.
06/02/2006
Statement of Congressman Barney
Frank on the Low Job Numbers Released Today
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney
Frank, the Ranking Democratic Member of the House Financial Services
Committee, made the following statement on the low job numbers released
today.
Read full story.
05/26/2006
Frank Urges Financial Services
Committee to Revisit Data Security Bill in Light of Veterans
Administration Data Theft
Washington, DC-
Congressman
Barney Frank today urged Financial Services Committee Chairman Mike Oxley
and Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee Chair Spencer
Bachus to revisit a recently passed data security bill in light of the
huge theft of personal data records from the Department of Veterans
Affairs.
Read full story.
05/11/2006
House Financial Services
Democrats Call on Bush to Repudiate HUD Secretary's Comments
Washington, DC- 28 Democratic
members of the House Financial Services committee sent a letter to
President Bush today calling on the President to repudiate the recent
comments by U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Alphonso
Jackson. Read full story.
05/10/2006
OCC Responds to Frank/Kanjorski
Letter on Recent Interpretive Letters
Washington, DC- Comptroller Dugan of
the OCC has responded to the March 29, 2006 letter that Reps. Frank and
Kanjorski sent the OCC objecting to the recent interpretive letters of the
OCC. Read full story.
05/09/2006
Rep. Waxman and Rep. Frank Call
for Full Investigation into HUD Contracting under Secretary Jackson
Washington, DC- Today Rep. Henry A.
Waxman and Rep. Barney Frank called for a full investigation of all HUD
contracting decisions during the tenure of Secretary Alphonso Jackson. In
a letter to Secretary Jackson, they demanded all documents related to the
advertising contract discussed in his April 28 speech as well as contracts
he was involved with during his time at HUD.
Read full story.
05/03/2006
Democrats to Force the Issue of
Executive Compensation
Washington, DC- All 33 minority
members of the House Financial Services Committee signed a letter today to
invoke Rule XI to force a Financial Services Committee hearing on the
issue of executive compensation. Democrats were denied the ability to
call witnesses to today's hearing with Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) Chairman Christopher Cox. Read full story.
05/01/2006
Frank Requests Panel to Focus
on Executive Compensation
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney
Frank, the Ranking Democratic Member of the House Financial Services
Committee today released a letter to Financial Services Committee Chairman
Mike Oxley asking for a second panel to be dedicated to the issue of
executive compensation for Wednesday's hearing with Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Christopher Cox.
Read full story.
04/20/2006
Rep. Frank Comments on
Wal-Mart's ILC Application
Washington, DC- The following is a
letter Rep. Frank wrote to the FDIC commenting on Wal-Mart's ILC
application. Read full story.
04/10/2006
Ranking Member Frank Comments
on SEC's Proposed Rule on Executive Compensation
Washington, DC- The following is a
letter Rep. Frank wrote to the SEC commenting on the proposed rule on
executive compensation and related party disclosure.
Read full story.
04/10/2006
Rep. Frank Requests Details on
Administration's CDBG Formula Change from HUD
Washington, DC- The following is a
letter Rep. Frank wrote to HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson requesting the
details of the Administration's CDBG formula change.
Read full story.
04/07/2006
Dissenting Views of Congressman Frank On
H. Res. 718
Washington, DC- The following are
dissenting views offered by Ranking Member Frank to the Committee report
filed in the House on H. Res. 718, a Privileged Resolution that would
compel the Bush Administration to provide certain documents to the House
of Representatives related to the Dubai Ports World transaction.
Read full story.
03/29/2006
Kanjorski, Frank Object to New
OCC Interpretive Letters
Washington, DC- U.S. Reps. Paul E.
Kanjorski and Barney Frank today wrote to Comptroller John C. Dugan
objecting to new OCC interpretive letters. Read full story.
03/20/2006
Frank Requests Data on
Commercial Real Estate
Washington, DC-
Congressman Barney Frank, the Ranking Democratic
Member on the House Financial Services Committee, today wrote to the heads
of federal financial regulatory agencies requesting information concerning
concentration of commercial real estate lending.
Read full story.
03/17/2006
Senior Members of the House
Financial Services Committee Urge World Bank President to Cancel Poor
Country Debts
Washington, DC-
Today on Capitol Hill, Reps. Maxine Waters (D‑CA),
James A. Leach (R-IA), Barney Frank (D-MA), Spencer Bachus (R-AL), and
Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) sent a letter to World Bank President Paul
Wolfowitz, urging him to cancel poor country debts completely and without
further delays.
Read full story.
02/23/2006
Reps Gillmor and Frank Comment
on FDIC's Decision to Hold Wal-Mart Bank Hearings
Washington, DC- Congressman Paul
Gillmor (R-OH) and Ranking Member Barney Frank (D-MA) released the
following statements regarding the decision by the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation to hold four days of hearings on the Wal-Mart
application for an Industrial Loan Company (ILC) charter in the State of
Utah. Read full story.
02/22/2006
Democrats Call for Hearings on
Dubai Ports Deal
Washington, DC- Leading Democrats on
the House Financial Services Committee are calling for hearings to examine
the deal to give commercial operations control of six major U.S. ports to
a company owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates.
Read full story.
02/15/2006
Statement of Congressman Barney
Frank and Questions and Answers with Chairman Bernanke
Washington, DC-
Hearing to receive the
testimony of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors on
monetary policy and the state of the economy.
Read full story.
02/15/2006
Frank Chides FEMA on Ending
Hotel Housing Assistance for Katrina Evacuees
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney
Frank, the Ranking Democratic Member of the House Financial Services
Committee, today made the following statement on Federal Emergency
Management Agency's (FEMA) decision to end the hotel housing assistance
program for people who fled the Hurricane-impacted areas of the Gulf
Coast. Read full story.
02/15/2006
Statement of Congressman Barney
Frank on the Passage of a Temporary Increase to the Borrowing Authority
Limit for the National Flood Insurance Program
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney
Frank today made the following statement after the House passed a measure
to temporarily increase the borrowing authority for the National Flood
Insurance Program. Read full story.
02/15/2006
Frank: It is Wrong for
Retailers to be Shielded from Responsibility on Data Breaches
Washington, DC- Responding to recent
press reports regarding a major data breach by a national retailer,
Congressman Barney Frank, the Ranking Member of the Financial Services
Committee, wrote to the CEO's of Visa and MasterCard regarding their
unwillingness to name the retailer involved with a recent serious data
breach. Read full story.
02/14/2006
Frank Calls Administration
Budget Plan 'Too Modest'
Washington, DC- In his State of the
Union Address, President Bush said, "my budget will ... reduce or
eliminate more than 140 programs," but at that time, the Administration
failed to provide Congress with a list. Late last week, the
Administration finally submitted a report to Congress which contains the
list of programs to be eliminated or substantially reduced.
Read full story.
02/09/2006
House Democrats Blast Cuts to
Rural Housing Programs
Washington, DC- House Democrats, led
by Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Financial Services Ranking Member
Barney Frank and Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson
today criticized Bush's proposed cuts to rural housing
programs. Read full story.
02/06/2006
Bush's HUD Budget: Making the
Worst Worse
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney
Frank (D-MA), the senior Democrat on the House Financial Services
Committee, decried the huge reductions in funding for housing programs
that are proposed in President Bush's proposed 2007 budget, which became
public today. Read full story.
02/03/2006
Lawmakers Criticize FEMA's
Failure to Provide Information on Rental Assistance Eligibility for
Katrina Evacuees
Washington, DC- Nine Democratic
Members of the U.S. House today wrote to Homeland Security Secretary
Chertoff expressing exasperation with FEMA's failure to comply with a
Congressional directive that FEMA issue guidance on eligibility for
continued rental housing assistance for people displaced by Hurricane
Katrina. Read full story.
01/20/2006
Congressman Barney Frank and
Congressman Paul Gillmor React to the FDIC Letter on Wal-Mart's
Application for Deposit Insurance
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney
Frank, the Ranking Democratic Member of the House Financial Services
Committee and Congressman Paul E. Gillmor (R-OH), also a senior member of
the House Financial Services Committee, today made the following
statements in response to a letter from the FDIC regarding Wal-Mart's
application for deposit insurance.
Read full story.
01/18/2006
Congressman Frank Congratulates
FTC Action on Credit Report Accuracy
Washington, DC- Congressman Barney Frank
today made the following statement on the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC)
settlement with Far West Credit to settle charges that it failed to
establish and follow procedures to assure the accuracy of information
provided to credit reports.
Read full story.
