Frank Blames GOP for Housing Market Collapse

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said conservative Republicans are to blame for the current economic downturn, arguing that he had tried to restrict troubled loans as early as 2005.

Frank blamed “the right-wing Republicans who took the position that regulation was always bad, the market was self-correcting, and you should not have any restrictions on the free flow of capital” when asked whose fault the housing market collapse is.

Frank said in an interview with Business Week that unregulated institutions made the bad loans leading to the market collapse, and indicated that the more-heavily Democratic Congress will install more regulation of the industry.

“In 2005 a group of us in Congress were trying to pass a bill to restrict subprime lending, and we were opposed by right-wing Republicans led by [former House Majority Leader] Tom DeLay, and I don’t remember us being able to get any media attention,” Frank said. He rejected that he had ever encouraged banks to expand lending in the housing market, as well.