bjbjLULU JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to our interview
with 16-term Congressman Barney Frank.
The Massachusetts Democrat announced this
week he wouldn't seek re-election next year,
after more than four decades in politics.
Frank began his career in the Massachusetts
state legislature, and was elected to the
U.S. House of Representatives in 1980.
He served as chairman of the House Financial
Services Committee from 2007 to early this
year, where he helped push through the $700
billion bailout of U.S. financial institutions.
He also co-wrote last year's law to impose
new regulations on Wall Street, along with
former Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd.
And Rep. Barney Frank joins us now.
Thank you for being here.
REP.
BARNEY FRANK, D-Mass.: I'm glad to be here.
JUDY WOODRUFF: You said, in making your announcement,
that part of the decision was because of the
reapportionment of your Boston district.
And you also talked about the political atmosphere
being such that you think it's hard, if not
impossible, for Congress to get anything done.
Can Congress be productive anymore?
REP.
BARNEY FRANK: I hope so.
But, actually -- and that's an accurate quote,
but let me say what I meant by it.
I think the ability to effect public policy
from inside the Congress is now constrained
by the political atmosphere.
I don't intend to walk away from my advocacy
of the kind of public policy I think is important.
I do think, at this point, where I can be
more useful is in trying to change the political
atmosphere, in trying to help mobilize the
kind of political pressure that is needed,
because, essentially, what we have is the
American people, under the American Constitution,
have used their freedom to elect one set of
people in 2008 and a different set in 2010.
Most countries don't have that.
They don't have these overlapping electoral
terms.
And so I intend to do more from the outside.
Now, I'm more comfortable as an inside player.
I think I'm a better legislator and candidate.
But I think advocacy is important.
Having said that, Judy, there is an extraordinary
situation now where I do think we have a chance
to make some progress by the fact that inertia
is now a progressive force.
Up until now, it's been very frustrating for
those of us who want to see some constructive
activity, because you had a very conservative
Republican majority that was ready to say
no to everything.
But they have kind of been boxed.
Here's the situation.
If Congress doesn't act at all in 2012, all
of the Bush tax cuts will expire.
Everybody's taxes will go up.
Similarly, sequestration will go into effect,
and there will be substantial reductions in
spending, but the military will take a bigger
hit than domestic.
What that means is this.
Those of us who would like to see not everybody's
taxes go up, but tax increases on the wealthy,
and those of us who want to see some cuts
in the military, inertia is now on our side.
If our conservative friends continue to say,
we're not going to do anything until you come
to us, then they will have bad results.
So I think, in this peculiar circumstances
of 2012, with sequestration pending and the
Bush tax cuts expiring both at the end of
2012, we have a chance to get some good results.
And one reason I decided not to run again
is, I don't want to spend my time campaigning,
when there is a chance to get leverage there.
But, in general, we need to get some electoral
change.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, let me ask you about
that.
Should the American people continue to have
faith in a Congress which, as you describe
and so many others say, is dysfunctional?
REP.
BARNEY FRANK: Well, by the way, Judy, where
do you think this Congress came from?
You would be surprised how few members of
the House of Representatives parachuted in
through the dome.
Everybody there was elected by, guess who,
the American people.
When you say the American people have lost
faith, are you telling me the American people
have no faith in the results of their own
electoral activity?
Because the Congress consists -- and here's
the -- you know, if you want to blame somebody,
I guess you can blame James Madison.
In America, unlike England, unlike Israel,
unlike Japan, other democracies, we have elections
that have staggered terms.
So you have a president elected by the American
people in 2008 and then a Congress elected
by the American people in 2010 diametrically
opposed to him.
And the people are a part of this equation.
So, no, people shouldn't lose faith.
They should understand that now, in 2012,
I guess, they have a chance to cast the tie-breaker.
Again, they voted one way in 2008, and they
voted another way in 2010.
Now everybody is on the ballot in 2012, at
least all the House and the president.
And if the public has a more consistent mandate,
that will make a big difference.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, let's talk about Barney
Franks' legacy, or at least part of it, the
Dodd-Frank financial regulatory -- law, now
law.
Clearly, it has its detractors.
It has people who say it's the right way to
go.
But, Barney Frank, for you, how do you see
-- what do you think that, for ordinary Americans,
this law can make the most difference?
REP.
BARNEY FRANK: Well, first, we did a great
breakthrough.
Until the bill was signed by the president,
if you had a problem with the financial institution,
if you, as a consumer, felt you had been unfairly
treated, your recourse was to the very regulators
that are in charge of the financial institutions,
who inevitably are going to have a bias towards
them.
So we set up -- we passed the strongest single
piece of consumer legislation in American
history, the Independent Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau, that Elizabeth Warren helped
design.
And I'm very proud -- and she gives me credit,
which I will take -- for being the major proponent
of that, along with her.
And so that's a very important piece.
Secondly, we took a number of actions that
are going to prevent the kind -- not prevent,
but severely diminish the likelihood of another
crash.
People are not going to be able to make loans
and then walk away from the loans.
They're going to have to have some responsibility
for the loans they made.
Derivatives, which were such a terrible instrument
when they were totally unregulated, will now
be regulated.
We made illegal the granting of mortgages
by anybody to people who shouldn't be getting
the mortgages.
And, finally, with regard, again, back to
individuals, we significantly increased the
responsibility that investors have to people.
We said that if are you going to be advising
people, if are you going to be -- you have
a fiduciary responsibility, meaning you have
to take their interests into account.
So it will both protect individuals through
the Consumer Bureau and investment protections...
JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.
Right.
REP.
BARNEY FRANK: ... and lessen the chance of
another meltdown.
JUDY WOODRUFF: We only have a few minutes
left, so I'm going to ask you a couple of
questions and just ask you for brief answers.
The housing crisis, something very important
to you, still more than a quarter of American
mortgages -- Americans who live in a house
and have a mortgage are underwater.
What is the most important thing that you
think needs to be done about...
REP.
BARNEY FRANK: Well, Judy, you know, I know
you have a limited time.
A brief answer to the housing crisis is, frankly,
going to be hard to -- hard to do.
What -- one of the things I want to do is
of course increase the extent to which we
-- rental housing for lower-income people,
so that we don't push people, inappropriate
home ownership.
With regard to the people who are now underwater,
I'm somewhat frustrated.
We did get legislation through that gave the
Obama administration the power to help people
who are unemployed.
They didn't use it nearly as much.
And that would have been done well.
Essentially, what we need to do is to use
all the power the federal government has to
try to put some pressure on the financial
institutions to be more flexible.
But, beyond that, I have to tell you, Judy,
it is really too complicated for a short answer.
JUDY WOODRUFF: I can appreciate that.
But -- and another huge question, the European
debt crisis, how worried are you, as somebody
who follows this closely, about the effect
that could have on the United States?
REP.
BARNEY FRANK: Well, I am worried.
And here is the point.
In the last quarter of 2009 and the first
quarter of 2010, our economy was getting much
better.
We were making significant improvement.
Unemployment was coming down.
And then the Greek crisis hit.
And then we started moving up again, and there
were good domestic economic numbers.
Our economic policies coming out of that terrible
recession that President Obama inherited are
getting better.
But once again, the major threat is not anything
that's happening here, but the carryover from
the European crisis.
So, I was very pleased to see the Federal
Reserve -- and I think Ben Bernanke does an
excellent job -- step up the way they did
and work with the other central banks and
give a kind of a boost.
I support what the Obama administration is
doing, trying hard to get Europe to deal with
it, because, if the Europeans can control
their situation, if they can prevent the kind
of serious meltdown, then I think you're going
to see continued significant progress here
in America, not to the point where we would
like to be, but a significant uptrend.
But it is the case, look, the world is interconnected.
And if there is a terrible crisis in Europe,
yes, it will have negative effects here in
America.
I will say this, though.
Under our legislation, we have an ability
to shelter ourselves more than we had before.
But the worse the crisis is, the less we're
going to be able to deal with that.
JUDY WOODRUFF: All right, final -- final question
today.
The House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi,
had some fond memories of you.
And one of those was, she said she remembers
getting fashion advice from you, that you
once said to her -- you looked at her suit
and said, "Throw that away."
I guess my question is, how often do you give
out this kind of advice and how often do your
friends follow it?
REP.
BARNEY FRANK: Well, I don't give it out very
often, but I reject the notion that you have
to be a practitioner to give good advice.
(LAUGHTER) REP.
BARNEY FRANK: I will tell you, I'm a lousy
cook, but I think I'm a pretty good judge
of a good meal.
(LAUGHTER) JUDY WOODRUFF: Barney Frank, representative
from the state of Massachusetts, thank you
very much for talking with us.
REP.
BARNEY FRANK: Thank you, Judy. gd=?
gd=?
urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags
State urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags
place urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags
country-region urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags
City JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to our interview with
16-term Congressman Barney Frank Normal Microsoft
Office Word JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to our interview
with 16-term Congressman Barney Frank Title
Microsoft Office Word Document MSWordDoc Word.Document.8
