Some right-wing television and talk radio personalities claim that Congressman Frank was a major cause of the financial crisis? Is this true?

The short answer -- no.

There are many good articles from reputable sources which explain the sources of the financial crisis. None of them claim that Congressman Frank was involved in the crisis. Some articles, including one by a former high-level official of the Bush administration, specifically state that Congressman Frank was one of the few public officials who tried to restrain the activities which later helped to precipitate the crisis.

Those who try to blame Congressman Frank for the economic crisis generally are opposed to his efforts to pass meaningful financial reform so they attack him rather than take any responsibility.

Right-wing pundits and their conservative allies in Congress conceal the fact that the institutions most responsible for the crisis were private sector companies – mortgage lenders, Wall Street investment banks, rating agencies and others.  And they omit the most important parts of the story – that lenders gave mortgages to borrowers knowing that they would never pay the money back; that Wall Street bundled mortgage securities and paid rating agencies to make them appear to be less risky than they actually were; that companies like AIG sold insurance for these securities even they didn’t have the money to cover the possible losses; that Wall Street made hundreds of billions of dollars on these schemes.

These commentators also fail to mention under the Bush administration, the Republicans failed to pass any meaningful reform of subprime lending or mortgage securitizing during the six years they held almost absolute power in Washington.

The right wing blames Congressman Frank for supporting the mission of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2003.  In that period, Fannie and Freddie bought loans that met certain requirements – they specifically did not purchase the subprime loans which later fueled the financial crisis.  In 2004, the Bush administration ordered Fannie and Freddie to increase purchases and effectively lower their standards.  And later, as Wall Street began to make hundreds of billions of dollars in the market for mortgage securities, Fannie and Freddie took even greater risks until -- like other major private sector financial institutions -- they faced major disaster.  Republicans failed in every year, except one, of their 12 year hold on the House of Representatives to pass stronger regulations on Fannie and Freddie, and the ONLY bill President Bush signed to increase oversight of the enterprises was authored by Barney Frank.

Some, including former Vice President Dick Cheney and the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, like to say that Barney Frank “blocked” meaningful reforms of Fannie Mae Freddie Mac.  This is also false.  Until 2007, Mr. Frank was a in the minority party in the House of Representatives, and as such, the minority has no power to block legislation.  If Mr. Frank has such power he would have stopped the war in Iraq and the Patriot Act first.