WASHINGTON—Former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, the outspoken Massachusetts Democrat whose name became synonymous with the sweeping Dodd-Frank financial reform law enacted after the 2008 financial crisis, which created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), has died at age 86.
Frank, who served more than three decades in Congress and chaired the House Financial Services Committee during the financial crisis, was a principal architect of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act alongside then-Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut.
A Sweeping Overhaul
The law represented the most sweeping overhaul of financial regulation since the Great Depression and was designed to prevent a repeat of the banking collapse and recession that shook the U.S. economy in 2007 and 2008. Among its most enduring provisions remains the CFPB, which the Trump Administration has repeatedly sought to defund and eliminate, but which remains in place and is restoring some operations and staff following court orders.
At the time the CFPB was created, what was then CUNA supported the move, while what was then NAFCU opposed its creation. The two groups merged to form America’s Credit Unions.
Plenty of Critics
Frank frequently defended the CFPB against critics who argued the agency wielded too much authority. Supporters credited the Bureau with returning billions of dollars to consumers through enforcement actions against banks, lenders and financial companies.
Critics, particularly Republicans and banking trade groups, argued Dodd-Frank imposed costly compliance burdens on financial institutions.
A First in Congress
Born in Bayonne, N.J., Frank represented Massachusetts in the House from 1981 until 2013. He became the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as gay in 1987 and later became the first sitting member of Congress to marry a same-sex partner.
Frank died following complications from congestive heart failure while in hospice care in Maine.
