One consequence of the Republicans winning a majority of the seats in the House of Representatives in last November’s elections is that GOP members will replace Democrats as chairmen of the House committees.
And so Barney Frank of Massachusetts– a co-sponsor of the Dodd-Frank financial reform and bank regulation bill enacted last year– will be replaced as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee by Spencer Bachus of Alabama, who recently told The Birmingham News: “In Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated, and my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks.”
Bachus later told the Birmingham News he merely meant Congress shouldn’t micromanage banks.
Oh. Okay.
The congressman from Alabama’s 6th district has throughout his 18-year House career raised millions from financial interests, including over $1 million from commercial banks alone, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
He has received over $800,000 from the real estate industry, $700,000 from securities and investment firms, and $415,000 from credit companies — all of which he will have extraordinary influence over as banking committee chair.
Update: Life imitates art (or something). Wednesday’s edition of the “Prickly City” comic strip, which usually leans conservative:
