WASHINGTON – Congressman Barney Frank is leaving hefty shoes to fill when he retires after 2012. The 16-term Massachusetts Democrat co-wrote the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, the most sweeping financial reform law since the Great Depression. With Frank – and former Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd, the co-archictect of the law, who already departed – gone from Capitol Hill after the next elections, who will take the reigns as the next champion of Wall Street reform? Here’s a list of potential candidates.
- Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. – Maloney is the senior New York Democrat on the House Finance Committee. She also sits on the House oversight subcommittee on the Troubled Asset Relief Program, financial services and bailouts, making her a top candidate to continue ironing out Wall Street’s troubles. She authored the Credit Card Act of 2009, working with Frank to pass the reform legislation with bipartisan support. Maloney added several amendments to Dodd-Frank, including the appointment of an ombudsman at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the requirement that the CFPB director to testify before Congress each year.
- Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. – Gutierrez is a senior member of the House Finance Committee and the ranking Democrat on the insurance and housing subcommittee. He worked to pass Dodd-Frank, writing several proposals including the creation of a fund to prevent taxpayers from paying for future bank bailouts. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation supported this provision. Gutierrez has held hearings on recent bank failures and the regulation of money services businesses, backing CFPB founder Elizabeth Warren and more recently, Richard Cordray, to be the first CFPB director.
- Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. – Waters, an outspoken liberal, has already hinted at taking over Frank’s seat as the top Democrat on the House Finance Committee. The Los Angeles congresswoman helped shape mortgage reform laws passed in 2009 to protect homeowners from foreclosure and predatory lending. But Waters has some baggage: an ethics investigation on whether she tried to aid a troubled bank where her husband owned stock. She also faces criticism as a hardball opponent of Wall Street, whereas Frank is considered an advocate financial executives could work with.
- • Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C. – Watt is a senior House Democrat on the finance committee. The former lawyer and small business owner won Frank’s support for an amendment to a 2009 bill mandating an audit of the Federal Reserve. Watt and Frank supported audits of the Fed’s balance sheet, but not for monetary policy. He is “a force to be reckoned with” in the arena of financial reform, according to Travis Plunkett of the Consumer Federation of America. Yet Watt has close ties to Wall Street, with 45 percent of his 2009 campaign contributions from the real estate, insurance and financial industries, according to the Sunlight Foundation. Watt faced an ethics investigation over a series of fundraising events in 2009. He was later cleared of wrongdoing.
- Sen. Timothy Johnson, D-S.D. – Johnson is the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Although he has been relatively quiet, Johnson says he is committed to properly implementing Dodd-Frank. He helped pass the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which addresses the subprime mortgage crisis. Johnson also voted against the bailout of the banks in the 2008 financial crisis, citing a lack of taxpayer protections and a lack of accountability for firms receiving TARP funds.
- Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio – Brown is chairman of the banking subcommittee on financial institutions and consumer protection. He has taken aggressive action to help middle class families, fighting for what he calls “banking that benefits Main Street,” according to his website. Brown cosponsored the Credit Card Act in the Senate. He also cosponsored the Fair Overdraft Coverage Act of 2009, a bill sponsored by Dodd that protects consumers from excessive checking account overdraft fees. Brown was one of twelve senators urging President Barack Obama to nominate a CFPB director. He now backs fellow Ohioan Cordray for the position.
- Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. – Reed is the chairman of the Senate banking subcommittee on securities and investment. A staunch supporter of consumer protection, Reed helped pass Maloney’s Credit Card Act and cosponsored legislation to crack down on oil and gas market manipulation in the commodities industry. Reed also supported the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, establishing a $30 billion lending fund and $12 billion in tax breaks for Main Street businesses.
- Ted Kaufman – Kaufman is a former Democratic senator from Delaware, serving briefly between 2009 and 2010 before chairing the Congressional Oversight Panel through early 2011. The panel was created by the bailout legislation passed in response to the 2008 financial crisis. In his role, Kaufman reviewed the state of the markets, the regulatory system and the Treasury Department’s management of TARP. With his Wharton MBA, Kaufman has written extensively on Wall Street reform. A visiting law professor at Duke University, it is unclear whether he plans on returning to Congress.