The Heartland Institute Reacts to Retirement of Rep. Barney Frank:

"Barney Frank spent much of his career expanding the powers of and defending Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both of which have been involved in multi-billion-dollar scandals that helped enrich their corporate leaders, inflate a housing bubble until it burst, and spark the financial crisis. Even after watching Fannie and Freddie pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fines because of their corrupt practices, Frank left them untouched in the 'Dodd-Frank' financial regulatory bill that was supposed to address the causes of the financial crisis. Frank has been shameless in using Fannie and Freddie as social engineering and income redistribution tools. Unfortunately, Maxine Waters, who apparently will fill his slot as ranking member, has shown herself to be every bit as shameless."