Spencer Bachus to Lead Financial Services Panel

By Arthur D. Postal

December 08, 2010 at 07:00 PM

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WASHINGTON BUREAU — Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., was confirmed today by the House Republican Conference as the incoming chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

Bachus has been a member of the committee since 1993 and has served Spencer Bachus as the highest ranking minority member since 2007.

Before becoming a member of Congress, Bachus served in the Alabama state Senate. When Bachus was elected to that body in 1982, he became the first Republican to serve there since Reconstruction.

Bachus says he is "committed to going title by title through the 2,300-page Dodd-Frank Act" to "correct, replace, or repeal the job-killing provisions that unnecessarily punish small businesses and community banks that did nothing to cause the financial crisis."

Bachus says the new leadership will reinvigorate the committee's oversight activities, and he and his colleagues plan to hold President Obama and his economic team "accountable for their policies."

The committee "will demand greater efficiency and savings in government programs that fall within our jurisdiction," Bachus says. "Now is the time to get government out of the way so businesses can create jobs and grow the economy, and our team is prepared to hit the ground running."

Bachus will succeed Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who has run the committee since Democrats took control of Congress in 2007.

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