Barney Frank returns to defend namesake law

The outspoken former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) will be returning to Congress Wednesday to defend his namesake financial reform law.

Committee Democrats announced Monday that they had invited Frank as their witness at a hearing devoted to the fourth anniversary of the Dodd-Frank law. Frank helped craft the law as chairman of that panel before he retired in 2011.    

{mosads}“I’m pleased Barney has agreed to return to the Committee on the four-year anniversary of Dodd-Frank, to discuss significant progress we have made in protecting consumers, reining in Wall Street and preventing another financial crisis. I look forward to joining him to refute Republican misrepresentations about the origins of the crisis and the impact of Dodd-Frank,” said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the committee.

Frank is expected to mount a spirited defense of the law, which has come under consistent Republican criticism since it was enacted.

Critics in the GOP contend the law has overloaded the financial sector with too many regulations while giving the government too much power over the nation’s financial markets.

Frank will appear alongside several witnesses invited by the Republican majority, including members of the financial industry and think tank experts.