...

BK>>election campaign. Frank co-authored the house version with
BK>>republican Michael Oxley of Ohio. Frank did oppose amendments
BK>>that he felt compromised it, but it did pass the house. Oxley
BK>>said, when Bush torpedoed it in the Senate, Bush gave us a one
BK>>fingered salute.

 ...

 TR> From Frank's press release:

 TR> The truth is when President Bush took office, and the
 TR> Republicans controlled both houses of Congress, he did not
 TR> make any progress on comprehensive legislation to reform
 TR> the regulation of the Government Sponsored Enterprises.

 TR> It was not until 2005, when the House, on a bipartisan
 TR> basis, and over the President's objections finally passed a
 TR> reform bill. It died in the Senate in part because the
 TR> White House's failure to make it a priority.

 Actually, the WH actively opposed it.

 ...

 TR> Mr. Snow said that Congress should eliminate the power of
 TR> the president to appoint directors to the companies, a sign
 TR> that the administration is less concerned about the perks
 TR> of patronage than it is about the potential political
 TR> problems associated with any new difficulties arising at
 TR> the companies.

 Who would appoint the directors? It sounds more like an attempt
 to cut them off altogether.

 ...

 TR> As Frank mentions in his press release today, two years
 TR> after it was first proposed, the House finally voted on a
 TR> bill reforming the mortgage giants.

 TR> Alas, the legislation was watered down to the point of
 TR> being meaningless; that's why it passed the House with such
 TR> wide margins (122 Democrats and 209 Republicans).

 TR> But even then, and despite his high regard for
 TR> bipartisanship now, Barney Frank wasn't among the yeas.

 Barney Frank co-authored it. He voted against it because of the
 amendments that watered it down so much.

 BTW, McCain signed on as co-sponsor 10 months after it came out
 of committee, at which time it was dead anyway.


BOB KLAHN bob.klahn{at}sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... Remember, take an asprin *BEFORE* the novacain wears off.
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