Congressman Barney Frank, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, released the following statement in response to Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s effort to repeal the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act:

“Michele Bachmann, the Club for Growth, and others in the right-wing coalition have now made their agenda for the financial sector very clear:  they yearn to return to the thrilling days of yesteryear, so the loan arrangers can ride again – untrammeled by any rules restraining irresponsibility, excess, deception, and most of all, infinite leverage.

“Their effort to repeal the new financial reform law reveals the hypocrisy of right-wing claims that they are concerned with ending uncertainty in the economy. Now that we have put in place a set of rules that allow financial markets to function but which also curb their excesses, Representative Bachmann and her allies want to reintroduce uncertainty by going back to exactly the situation that led to the financial crisis in the first place.

“It is worth noting that what appears to be their most serious objection – at least as stated here, since abolishing the independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau remains one of their highest priorities – is that the law grants authority to the Treasury to deal with failing institutions. This provision closely follows a proposal suggested by the Bush administration in 2008, when its top economic officials noted that the absence of such authority was a major exacerbating factor to the deep recession into which we plunged. A number of Bush appointees had a role in shaping the final legislation. 

“Finally, I am pleased to see that Representative Bachmann and her very conservative allies have begun to show concern for federal intrusion on constitutional rights, even though it is misplaced with regard to the financial reform law.  However, I do wish that their deep concern for protecting the rights of financial institutions had spilled over into some concern when individual liberties are at risk.”

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