Barney Frank would shift finance panel's priorities

[cal04]

House Financial Services panel would have more liberal agenda under Frank
Liberal Democrat and outspoken lawmaker Rep. Barney Frank has a host of issues he'd like to press next year ranging from affordable housing to executive salaries, and if the Republicans lose control of the House in November's elections, Frank will likely be in a prime position to push his favorite causes.

Expanding affordable housing, empowering shareholders to approve executive pay and taking a closer look at hedge funds will be among the chief issues that Democrats on the influential House Financial Services Committee pursue next year no matter who wins the congressional elections in November, says Frank.

But those and other issues are poised to see much stronger scrutiny should Democrats take back the House after 12 years of Republican control. Frank, a Massachusetts lawmaker who is poised to win his 14th congressional term, is in line to head the committee if the Democrats win a House majority.

Frank, 66, would replace the retiring Michael Oxley of Ohio and bring a decidedly more liberal agenda to the committee, which oversees the banking, securities, insurance and housing industries. The chairman of the Federal Reserve testifies before the committee at least twice a year, and officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Treasury Department and other regulators also appear frequently.

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B3DEE047A%2DD787%2D40B1%2DBDF8%2DCF75DDF51976%7D&siteid=myyahoo&dist=myyahoo

[Olney Blue]

1. "Affordable housing"- imagine that!

[Clark2008]

2. Think there is enough code words in that article?

"liberal" democratic lawmaker...

Frank, a MASSACHUSETTS lawmaker...

The right has spent years making those two words mean something vile (they don't, of course, but they're code words for something vile).

Does the media ever say "ultra conservative" Republican lawmaker...

Or, DoDo-Brain, a lawmaker from that (read: idiotic) state Utah.

Code words...

I can see them calling Frank a lawmaker from Massachusetts, but usually that's done as Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and left at that. It's not pointed out and spelled out for the sheeple.