The Public Record
Barney Frank is a former U.S. Representative from Massachusetts, serving from 1981 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he was known for his progressive stance on various issues, including financial regulation and LGBT rights. Frank played a significant role in the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which aimed to prevent the kind of financial crisis that occurred in 2008. He was also one of the first openly gay members of Congress, advocating for LGBTQ+ rights throughout his career.
I yield myself 15 seconds. The gentleman from California says he is not singling out Chicanos Por la Causa, that there are other private organizations, but he never mentions them. And he says, well, they are not a government entity. That…
I yield myself 2 minutes to say I am struck by the incongruity of Members who have voted for the war in Iraq, a trillion-dollar huge mistake, ongoing, who vote to continue what seems to me a futile effort now in Afghanistan. The gentleman…
I yield myself 30 more seconds. For many of these pieces of property, the cities are left with no recourse. There is no one to do it. One of the Members said the other day in committee, Well, they can send out their bulldozer. Yeah, they…
No, I don't think any private entity would--I'm sorry. May I answer the question? That's why we want to give money to the cities so they can tear it down, because otherwise they'll be stuck with it. I don't think any private investor would…
I yield myself 3 minutes. First of all, the gentleman says why are you talking about other programs, why don't you just talk about this program, but he talks about hundreds of billions of dollars of deficit, and this is a billion dollar…
I yield myself another 30 seconds. The gentleman made a big point of saying, buy the property from this person. He doesn't know who owns the property. No one knows who owns the property because no one owns the property. They walked away…
How much time remains on both sides, Mr. Chairman? The CHAIR. The gentleman from Massachusetts has 4 minutes remaining. The gentlewoman from Illinois has 3\1/2\ minutes remaining.
I yield myself the balance of my time. I appreciate the gentleman's acknowledgement. With all of their efforts, they are out finding pictures of abandoned houses, they couldn't find one example of where that abuse took place. In fact…
In the first place, there is a consistent misunderstanding on the Republican side manifested by their talking about this as a program that there was foreclosed property. That, of course, allows them conveniently to pretend that, for every…
What if it is abandoned and it is of not much value and has to be torn down, so people buy it and tear it down?
We were told, for instance, by Detroit and Cleveland, they have abandoned property. There is no owner they can find. Who's going to pay to knock it down?
The gentleman is listing those numbers. Would the gentleman tell us what the maximum number is he thinks people should be eligible to get a house through the FHA and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Politicians like Barney Frank
