Barney Frank
Barney Frank
Barnett "Barney" Frankis a former American politician and board member of the New York-based Signature Bank. He previously served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 1981 to 2013. As a member of the Democratic Party, he served as chairman of the House Financial Services Committeeand was a leading co-sponsor of the 2010 Dodd–Frank Act, a sweeping reform of the U.S. financial industry. Frank, a resident of Newton, Massachusetts, is considered the most prominent gay...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth31 March 1940
CityBayonne, NJ
CountryUnited States of America
I had always been interested in politics. I had assumed - for two reasons, being Jewish and being gay back in the late '50s, early '60s - that I would never be elected or anything, but I would participate as an activist.
I hope the regulators understand by now there is, I think, unanimity on this committee that they should experiment, they should be flexible, they should do everything reasonable to get money into people's hands because people need money to eat and to live and because that's the way we're going to bring the economy back,
There's only one thing you can do in bankruptcy: break your word, break your deals. It allows you to say to the small businesses, who have been catering lunches for you, 'Sorry, we're not paying you.' It allows you to go to the workers and say, 'Sorry, we're not paying you.'
Pat Moynihan could write books with one hand and legislate with the other. I can't; I have a short attention span. The slightest distraction would take me away from writing.
I filed the first gay rights bill in Massachusetts history in 1972 in the legislature, one of the first in the country.
The fact that they're a congressionally chartered group should no more incline people to give to that group than the fact that it's National Pickle Month should make them eat more pickles.
I'm used to being in the minority. I'm a left-handed gay Jew. I've never felt, automatically, a member of any majority.
As a liberal, I am morally obligated to be pragmatic. What good do I do poor people, elderly people, people who are being discriminated against because of their sexual orientation if I'm not realistic about accomplishing something.
What would be the nicest thing I could say about Newt Gingrich? He may be one of the great supporters of the humanities, because you have people who don't want to study the social sciences, because it's not profitable, and now Newt, as the highest-paid historian in American history, may be an encouragement to people to study history.
I'm antisocial - there's no question about it.
Under the Republican provision, you can't do get-out-the-vote efforts if you work in affordable housing, ... There is an extremism here that is not comprehensible except if you know the history.
When I spoke to him, the first thing I did was tease him, saying I thought this was a ploy because he wants to run for Congress. It's not anything that's fun to do, sharing with people intimate things about himself, but it's important and unimportant at the same time. It's something important for him to be honest with people, but it doesn't affect how he does his job.
We will be seeking to knock out that part that says groups that engage in voter-registration and get-out-the-vote activities are not eligible.
I think our military is of sterner stuff than that.