About Barney

Barney Frank was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1980, having served as a Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, as the Administrative Assistant to former Congressman Michael Harrington, and as Executive Assistant to Boston Mayor Kevin White.  He has also taught at several Boston area universities.

In Congress, Mr. Frank has focused on adjusting America’s spending priorities to provide less funding for the military and more for important quality of life needs at home.  In particular, he has focused on providing aid to local communities, and to building and preserving affordable rental housing for low income people.  He played a major role in 1998 in blocking the effort to impeach President Bill Clinton.  As Chair of the Financial Services Committee from 2007 to 2010, he worked first with the Bush administration to deal with the crisis of 2008, and then with the Obama administration to adopt a sweeping set of financial regulations that are aimed at preventing a recurrence of this crisis.  He has also been a leader in the fight against unfair discrimination of various sorts.  In Massachusetts, he has been a strong advocate for the needs of the fishing industry in New Bedford, for the transportation needs of Southeastern, and for important environmental projects in Brookline, Norton, Fall River, Dartmouth and elsewhere.