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acts of congress summary
Act of Congress ⇒ Chapter Summaries

Chapter 9—Politics First

Chapter Nine continues with an examination of Barney Frank, the Democrat who served as the senior leader of the House Financial Services Committee that was responsible with researching, marking up, rewriting, and passing proposed legislation that would prohibit another financial crisis from developing in the future. However, while waiting for the release the administration’s white paper, which helped inform and educate members of Congress about White House proposals, Frank found himself in the midst of a potential political rebellion from in Congress, and even from within his own party. Many moderates balked at Frank’s more aggressive reform proposals, while liberals found it treasonous that he was collaborating with banks, the very institutions that they held responsible for the onset of the financial crisis and the beneficiaries of TARP—Troubled Asset Relief Program. One such critic was Senator Dick Durban, who rejected the idea of a bank bail-out, and was disappointed that banks were still in a position to politic in Washington. Frank disagreed, asserting that the big banks were losing steam in Washington and the evidence was simple: they could not prohibit the passage of credit card legislation that protected consumers.
In an effort to gain support and educate members of Congress, Frank’s staff put on a serious of workshops and work sessions for members. In addition to his efforts to placate liberals, Frank threw his support behind provisions that would ultimately become the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—an idea first presented by Elizabeth Warren in an article for the journal Democracy. The legislation became important but the “blues and news,” the old and new moderate factions of the Democratic party of each party, were already drowning in health care legislation, breaking Frank’s declaration that the new legislation would pass before Congress’ summer vacation.

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