Did Rep. Spencer Bachus Really Say That?

“In Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated, and my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks.” That’s what the new chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., told the Birmingham News in a Dec. 9 interview—just a day after he was elected chairman. A pretty telling view of how Bachus intends to implement banking and regulatory reform of Wall Street through Dodd-Frank during his two-year chairmanship, wouldn’t you say?

The article goes on to say that Bachus tried to turn tail and clarified his comment to say that “regulators should set the parameters in which banks operate but not micromanage them.” But I’d say his first slip of the tongue leaves the most lasting impression.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., Bachus' predecessor said that Bachus' comments make two things very clear: First, "the assault he intends to lead against improved financial regulation based on a seriously flawed view of the relationship that exist between financial institutions and those who set the rules governing safety and soundness." And second, "Rep.  Bachus' staff is going to be very busy getting him to retract statements in which he reveals what he really believes about a fundamental issue before the committee."

Frank went on to say that Bachus' view of regulation, "expressed before he 'clarified' his genuine belief, explains why he is so opposed to an independent consumer financial protection bureau, and why he wants to weaken restraints on speculation by banks with depositors' money."