Chris Dodd in Courage and Consequence


On Budget & Economy: 2003: Threatened filibuster on Fannie & Freddie regulation

[The Bush administration's 2005 Banking bill] would have subjected Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the kinds of federal regulation that banks, credit unions, and savings loans have to comply with. No Democrat supported it and, most important of all, Sen. Chris Dodd (D, CT) threatened to filibuster it. Dodd did go this way--and thus helped pave the way to the largest financial crisis since the Great Depression.

The leading reform opponents were Rep. Barney Frank (D, MA) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D, CT). Dodd said in 2004 that these companies were "one of the great success stories of all time." As Fannie and Freddie spiraled downward, Dodd suggested Bush "immediately reconsider his "ill-advised" call for reform.

Once the president helped spark a crisis Frank and Dodd voted in 2008 for the Bush administration's reform bill, which they had opposed in 2005. It was perhaps the most blatant case of hypocrisy I have witnessed in Washington, where hypocrisy is common.

Source: Courage and Consequence, by Karl Rove, p.410-413 Mar 9, 2010

The above quotations are from Courage and Consequence:
My Life as a Conservative in the Fight, by Karl Rove.
Click here for other excerpts from Courage and Consequence:
My Life as a Conservative in the Fight, by Karl Rove.
Click here for other excerpts by Chris Dodd.
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