U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D - MA)
Barney Frank graduated from Harvard University with a BA in Government. He went on to do graduate work and earn a law degree from Harvard. He was the assistant to the Mayor of Boston and a former United States Congressman. He also served as a Massachusetts State Representative. He was first elected to Congress in 1980 and is currently serving his 15th term. Official Bio.
Birthday: March 31, 1940
Committees: Financial Services, chair
Issues: Find out where Rep. Frank stands on the issues.
Other: Barney Frank has lectured at the John F. Kennedy school of government.
Number of Questions Asked: 1
Number of Answers Provided: 4
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It seems that a simple fix to one of the key causes of the current financial meltdown would be to create regulation or statute that requires mortgage originators to service the loans they originate through the life of the loan. Will you enact such legislation now?
Asked by: Michael Lauderdale from Chesterfield, VA. Received 36 Votes.
Listen to: U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)
We clearly need to change things. We need to have much more responsibility on the services. Whether or not the originator has to service it throughout—I don’t think that’s necessary to achieve the goal. It is important that whoever the servicer is have full rights to restructure the mortgage. So I think it’s acceptable to say it can be sold, as long as the originator—the originator should not be able to sell the entire responsibility for the loss—the originator should have to retain some of the risk.
Answered on Jul 16th, 2009 More
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Listen to: U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)
I think it’s a couple years away and we are making progress. I don’t want to kid anybody. The votes aren’t there yet, but we are getting there. You’ve seen this in states. There are two ways. One is medical marijuana. I think there, that can be done by the administration. They should simply decline to prosecute, which is what the Clinton administration did, you know, declined to prosecute people. Then John Ashcroft started prosecuting people—I say persecuting people.
Answered on May 22nd, 2009 More
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Why is it that my Massachusetts State Representatives and Senators are not participating in the House and Senate Philanthropy Caucuses?
Asked by: Craig Maser from Boston, MA. Received 39 Votes.
Listen to: U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)
I don’t join Caucuses. There are about 300 Caucuses. They push a lot of paper. I have not found these Caucuses very effective ways of accomplishing public policy goals so I have a general principle, don’t join Caucuses.
Answered on Feb 26th, 2009 More
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What is the Democratic position on helping small businesses, who in the last recession created 80% of new jobs? Issues important to small business are cost of health insurance, access to business credit, low corporate taxes on small operators so we can invest in future growth.
Asked by: Susan Kuhn Frost from Springfield, VA. Received 3 Votes.
Listen to: U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)
My main legislative focus right now is the $700 billion, the remaining $350 billion. We are putting in there a requirement that the remaining 350 be used in part for loans to small business, or they explain to us why not. We also are putting an emphasis on getting some of these capital infusions, if they come further, to community banks, who are much more likely to lend to small business than big banks. Questions about health care and things in the stimulus, you’d have to ask people on that committee.
Answered on Jan 27th, 2009 More
