House Proceeding 03-19-09 on Mar 19th, 2009 :: 1:20:10 to 1:28:05
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1:20:07 to 1:20:28( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: actions. today's vote instead, i conclude by saying, is a thinly veil political ploy by the democratic majority to deflect responsibility. that's wrong. the american people know it. working families deserve better. they deserve an exit strategy from this continued cycle of

1:20:10 to 1:28:05( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Barney Frank

1:20:29 to 1:20:49( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: government bailouts and they deserve to be repaid they don't deserve a cover-up. i yield back the balance of my time. mr. frank: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. frank: i yield myself such time as i may consume to say -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. frank: i learn a lot in this job.

1:20:50 to 1:21:10( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: now, i learned about a theory called creationism which in some cases holds that the world was created 4,000 years ago by calculating or 7,000 years ago by calculating what the bible said. but i now am astounded to see a new and compressed theory of when the world was created. it apparently was created at noon on january 20, 2009.

1:21:11 to 1:21:32( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: you just heard someone say it's obama's fault. in september of 2008, and i regret that we're getting into this kind of political discussion, but the gentleman from alabama raised it. in sepmber of 2008, two appointees of george bush came to the congress and said, mr.

1:21:33 to 1:21:53( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: bernanke, the chairman of the federal reserve, who had previously been on the bush economic advisory staff, and mr. paulson, said we are going to lend $85 billion to the federal -- through the federal reserve to a.i.g. they didn't ask us. mr. bachus: will the gentleman yield? mr. frank: yes.

1:21:54 to 1:22:14( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: mr. bachus: the economic stimulus package? mr. frank: i will yield to talk about what i was talking about. i take back my time. mr. speaker, please instruct someone who should know about the rules. i took back my time. the point is this. he had the chance to make his argument. he wanted to make it political. yet there was something in the stimulus package before the stimulus package there was

1:22:15 to 1:22:35( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: september of 2008. it does exist. your revisionism doesn't work, i would say on the other side, mr. speaker. a note, mr. speaker, how sensite the subject is that i raised. i got one sentence into describing the role of the bush administ colleague from alabama because they don't want this to be

1:22:36 to 1:22:56( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: discussed. in september of 2008, george bush's two top economic appointees came and mr. bernanke informed us that he was going to lend $85 billion to a.i.g. i said at the time, because he said we have obligations all over the world here and we have to make our foreign partners know this is not going to be a

1:22:57 to 1:23:20( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: default on them, i said, well, are they contributing? i sa there any contributions from foreign banks to make up what a.i.g. owns -- owes? the answer was no. so from september of 2008 until january 20, 2009, the bush administration was in charge of this.

1:23:21 to 1:23:41( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: i will yield again to their sensitivity. i will yield again to your sensitivity. mr. garrett: it's not to my sensitivity. just that since you're throwing out the dates, you said from september until january. mr. frank: january 20, yes. mr. garrett: is it true that somewhere between there on september 10 there was real estate structuring that was

1:23:42 to 1:24:02( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: done from the $-- there was a restructuring that was done from the $85 billion that initially came from the fed but restructuring was done perhaps at the request because of the credit ratings and what have you and they needed to change the terms and that the funds the that correct? mr. frank: yes. i will reclaim my time to say that the gentleman has just

1:24:03 to 1:24:23( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: said what i reaffirmed. it happened during the bush administration. do members not understand the rules on the other side? i yielded twice. mr. garrett: and i -- mr. frank: i reclaim my time, mr. speaker. the eaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts controls the time. mr. frank: i got shortly into

1:24:24 to 1:24:44( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: my response. two of my colleagues have jumped up because they don't want the story to be told. i said that it was under the bush administration. the gentleman from new jersey got up and frankly i thought he was going to say, oh, no, tt was the federal reserve. they are not technically the bush administration. instead what he wanted to do was drive home my point it was the department of the treasury in november of 2008.

1:24:45 to 1:25:05( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: who was running the department of the treasury? bu so i accept the gentleman's correction, i s more clear, it wasn't just the federal reserve, it was also the secretarof t the bush administration was in control from september of 2008 until january.

1:25:06 to 1:25:26( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: the decision to lend the money with no restrictions on compensation was a bush squad mrgs decision. when we had to vote on the rescue plan, we did insist on some compensation restrictions, they were gludgingly applied. under the current administration -- they were grudgingly applied. under the current

1:25:27 to 1:25:47( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: administration, we have expanded these. if we had covered restrictions that are now in place on the rescue plan are so tough, people want to give us the money back. the recovery plan we said they could give the money back. but the point is, in november of 2008, it became even more of a bush administration situation, because the treasury had a larger role.

1:25:48 to 1:26:08( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: i yield to the gentleman. mr. garrett: the point i was about to make is, yes, it was the bush administration that his secretary on november, 10 -- on november 10, 2008, did the restructuring, but they were not able to do that unilaterally, were they? the tarp money they spent they didn't just pull that out of

1:26:09 to 1:26:29( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: thin air when they -- like the fed did when they created money. they had to requesthe house and senate to pass the tarp legislation. did that go through the house and who was it that sponsored the tarp legislation? mr. frank: the answer is, the gentleman appears to have forgotten, the tarp legislation requested by the bush and -- by

1:26:30 to 1:26:50( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: the bush administration did pats the house with the support the democrats, with the support of the republican leadership. mr. garrett: who sponsored that. mr. frank: when you're recognized, you can speak.

1:26:51 to 1:27:12( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: if he yield, you can speak, if he doesn't yield, wait until someone does. it's an orderly process. i un degree omy being asked to yield because the members on the other side want to make a partisan attack. mr. garrett: will the gentleman yield on that?

1:27:13 to 1:27:34( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: mr. frank: no, i won't yield because the other side don't want the story told. the bush administration lobbd for it strongly. house supported it, though a slight majority of the members voted against it, a heavy majority of the republicans in the senate did pass it. the republican leadership in the senate, the republican

1:27:35 to 1:27:56( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: leadership in the house, and the bush administration, it was genuinely bipartisan. it inc compensation, less than i would have liked, because republicans in the senate resisted them. we have since increase types of restrictions and the level system of to answer the gentleman's question, yes, the tarp bill did pass at the

1:27:57 to 1:28:05( Edit History Discussion )

Barney Frank: request of the bush administration with support from the house republican leadership, which i notice is conspicuously off the floor now to avoid