Barney Frank

Being of an optimistic nature, I look for silver linings. So I welcome the fact that my colleagues on the other side have decided to adopt gender-neutral language, because a lot of the czars would have been called czarinas in the old days…

I want to make clear my opposition not to an extension of the basis of self-defense that we have here but of passing it unchanged and of failure of the legislative process. We knew this date was coming. To extend this now... To be…

I don't understand when the philosophy came that when Congress is legislating, it should only look backwards; it should not anticipate potential future problems.

I think the majority report in particular is a good argument for the bill going forward, and we will be fighting later today to prevent the re-deregulation of the financial economy which the Republican budget represents.

At the expense of getting adequate regulation, we are going to turn you into a profit center.

We are not going to go after the end users and all we are talking about is price being made public.

The lack of regulation of derivatives in various aspects contributed greatly to the financial crisis.

The budget that we have been presented for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) prevent them from doing the job the American people need them to do.

An absence of funding will make all of this invalid.

I would like to ask all the witnesses if they have views on H.R. 4889.

I had not previously thought that the Majority was waiting around for the President to suggest to them what to do.

I hope, continue to press for a reasonable approach on the part of the bank examiners.

We have suffered from excessive rigidity on the part of the regulators.

I would just urge people to read the Record tomorrow. Read his statement that no amendments were offered and read what the gentleman from Massachusetts said and see where the truth lies.

I'm a little puzzled. You said no amendments were submitted, but Mr. McGovern did ask for one on behalf of Mr. Van Hollen. Why did that not qualify?

Well, apparently the gentleman from Nebraska, having denounced those bailouts, now tells us he voted for it. So it's confession time before the House. He apparently voted for the measure that he characterizes as a ``bailout'' that was such…

The letter you are talking about is one in which he says he doesn't have the legal authority to do it. This bill gives him the legal authority. There is no conflict. This bill now is a response to that letter. And I repeat that he has said…

Yes, the letter is on the way. I state, as a matter of fact, that I personally spoke to Secretary Geithner and he told me, as I explained it, that he supports it. Does the gentleman doubt my word?

I had the enormous honor, Mr. Speaker, inspired by them, of being able to read on the floor of this House the words from that bill, "On behalf of the Nation, Congress apologizes." I cannot think of a greater example of the true strength of…

I must say, it is not that the young members of the military who face death, who face the destruction of their comrades, they are not the ones who are upset by this. It is our colleagues on the other side who are reputing their unease at…

My answer is absolutely, we will have the commissioner. I have to say HUD, the Secretary and the commissioner have been very cooperative, and we will have such a hearing in September.

I appreciate it, and I hope he would then join me in something really significant like getting our troops out of Iraq for a year and a half and save about a thousand times as much as this motion to recommit.

I can only judge by what I see. When the House voted on this bill last December, the minority had certain amendments made in order by the rules... they offered a version that said no, no reform, no change, no regulation, leave the status…

We do differentiate between end users and others. The marginal requirements are not on end users. They are only on the financial and major swap participants. And they are permissive. They are not mandatory, and they are going to be done, I…

We do want to make sure it's an informed choice, and we're going to work on financial literacy. But, no, it is not our intention to deny anybody that choice.