Frank: GOP suffers psych disorder

Frank: GOP suffers 'psychological disorder'

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank was in quite a mood Wednesday as he shepherded the new AIG bonus bill on the House floor — questioning the sanity of Texas Republican John Culberson and other conservatives who were needling the majority.

Frank, his gravelly voice booming through the chamber, grabbed the microphone after Culberson blasted Democrats for passing the stimulus, which permitted the American International Group to lavish billions on executives after its de facto federal takeover.

Frank accused the GOP of attacking him for trying to fix the flawed stimulus, saying Republicans’ criticism was part “of a psychological disorder I am not equipped to diagnose.”

When Culberson coaxed another Democrat to admit he hadn’t actually read the original 1,000-plus-page stimulus, Frank jumped in to point out that the new bill was much shorter — while questioning Culberson’s literacy skills.

“The bill is 5½ pages — even the gentleman from Texas could have read it by now.”

Frank’s Pay for Performance Act of 2009 would give the Treasury Department the power to “prohibit unreasonable and excessive compensation and compensation not based on performance standards.” The bill does not define “excessive” or “unreasonable.”

The new measure, which was expected to pass Wednesday night, comes weeks after the House hurriedly passed a 90 percent tax on bonuses paid to AIG and other financial firms that have accepted billions in federal aid. That bill prompted AIG executives to return about $50 million in bonuses to the crippled insurer — but faded in popularity after President Barack Obama questioned the idea of using the tax code punitively.

Minnick rejects earmarks

Rep. Walt Minnick, the rookie Democrat from Idaho, says he’s rejecting earmarks in the upcoming fiscal year 2010 budget — one of several Democrats to say he’d do so.

Minnick — a former Nixon administration Republican who once shared an office with G. Gordon Liddy — has been sending a letter to earmark applicants explaining why he’s closing up shop.

He wrote: “Thank you for taking the time to submit an appropriations request for fiscal year 2010. While my staff and I have thoroughly considered the merits of your project request and every project request, I have decided that I will not seek earmarks this year. Rather, I will assist my constituent groups in seeking funds from the billions of dollars available through competitive federal grants.

“Some of my critics will argue, ‘If the money is sitting there, why not grab a share? Everyone else is doing it.’ This is flawed logic and will lead to future increases to satisfy the growing appetites of Washington politicians.”

Forty-one House members rejected earmarks last year, including Rep. Jim Cooper, a Blue Dog Democrat from Tennessee, and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee. Seven senators — including Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) — rejected them, according to the anti-tax Club for Growth.

‘Disneyland on the Potomac’

Chuck Grassley’s tired of us writing about the hilarious and nasty stuff that he says.

Like last week, when he made an off-color reference to Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad’s wife.

“Oh, you are good,” Conrad said of Grassley during a hearing.

“Your wife said the same thing,” said the Iowa Republican.

And then there was that crack he made about American bankers needing to consider hara-kiri à la their Japanese counterparts.

“You’ll find that this place is not the real world,” Grassley said in a conference call with Iowa reporters. “I mean, this place is Disneyland on the Potomac. ... It’s much ado about nothing. ... I mean, what do people think? Chuck Grassley’s different in 2009 than I was Dec. 30, 2008? I got bit by a bug?”

He was then asked how his wife, Barbara, responded to the Conrad joke.

“What do you expect out of somebody that’s been married to me for 55 years?” he said. “Don’t you think they kind of know who Chuck Grassley is?”

Worse than AIG?

Why is Chris Dodd elbowing past other Dems to crack down on credit card companies this week?

Try this: The Wachovia Visa Buxx card, marketed to students, charges 15 different fees, including a $2 charge if parents want to add some of their own cash to their kids’ accounts, according to Consumer Reports.

My sense, in talking to family, friends and regular folks, is that this is the issue that gets them the angriest — far more than the AIG bonuses. Pure greed, manifested every month — and mailed to their houses like a campaign flier.

Dodd’s bill cracking down on deceptive practices by issuers, and a similar measure proposed by New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney, are on a fast track in both houses.

The Federal Reserve has already committed to impose similar restrictions effective in July 2010.