Former Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, known for his role in responding to the 2008 Great Recession, died on Tuesday after being treated for congestive heart failure.
Frank had been on hospice care at his home in Maine for several months. He was 86.
Recommended Stories
As one of the first openly gay lawmakers in Congress, Frank represented Massachusetts from 1981 to 2013. He gained recognition for being one of the architects of the Dodd-Frank Act, a bill that led to a sweeping overhaul of the financial industry in response to the Great Recession.
Critics accused him of championing policies, including on affordable housing, that helped lead to the housing crisis and subsequent nationwide economic meltdown. Frank’s optimistic stance on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, two of the country’s biggest mortgage giants, has also been viewed by some as a key failure to recognize an emergent housing bubble.
Freddie and Fannie were privately owned before the 2008 recession, but operated as government-sponsored enterprises under congressional charters, giving rise to widespread investor expectations that the government would bail them out if they failed.
Republicans said Freddie and Fannie bought risky mortgages to meet politically motivated “affordable housing goals” that Congress assigned to them. When the mortgages defaulted, they drove down housing prices, weakened most large financial institutions, and caused the financial crisis, critics said.
Frank, as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, which had oversight of Freddie and Fannie, claimed in 2008 that the two mortgage companies were “fundamentally sound, not in danger of going under.” The Bush administration later seized control of them, justifying the decision as a necessary move to stabilize the housing market and the U.S. economy.
The government’s nearly $200 billion bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ended up being the biggest, costliest taxpayer-funded bailout in history.
GOP FACES MOUNTING POLITICAL PRESSURE TO PASS BIPARTISAN HOUSING BILL
Frank was hailed by Democrats for his work on financial reform, following his work on the Dodd-Frank Act, which aimed to prevent execssive risk taking, and created watchdogs such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He was also known for his progressive LGBT views. In 2012, Frank became the first member of Congress to enter into a same-sex marriage.
“He has been about idealism and pragmatism to get the job done,” former Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who was House speaker when Frank shepherded Dodd-Frank through Congress, told NBC News last month. “He was a real mentor to so many of us here. I was with him on [the] Banking [Committee] in the beginning. I learned so much.”
Speaker of the House Hakeem Jeffries reacted to the news of Frank’s passing, calling him a “trailblazing advocate and legendary leader.”
“We are a better Caucus and country because of Barney Frank’s relentless leadership and candor,” Jeffries’s statement continued. “Though we are blessed with many memorable quips to remember him by, the House Democratic Caucus family will miss Barney deeply and mourn with his loved ones during this difficult time.”
