Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., chairman-elect of the House Financial Services Committee, has announced his appointments for committee leadership positions in the 112th Congress.Â
As widely predicted, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, was named chairman of the Domestic Monetary Policy Subcommittee. In an interview last month with The Hill, Paul (pictured here) promised to use this position to focus on Federal Reserve policies, which he described as ‘opaque and destructive.’ Paul previously introduced legislation to eliminate the Federal Reserve.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, was named vice chairman of the Financial Services Committee. Earlier this year, Hensarling argued for the closing of the government-sponsored enterprises; he called Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ‘financial Frankensteins created in a government laboratory that were allowed to abuse their congressionally granted charters for their own private gain, while exposing taxpayers to more than $5 trillion of risk.’
Also receiving an appointment was Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., as the new chairman of the Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee. Earlier this year, Garrett and Bachus joined Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-Pa., in authoring the U.S. Covered Bond Act, which was designed to establish the regulatory infrastructure for a national covered-bond market. Efforts to incorporate the legislation into the Dodd-Frank Act were unsuccessful.
Other appointments included Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., as chairwoman of the Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity Subcommittee; Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W. Va., as chairwoman of the Financial Institutions Subcommittee; Rep. Gary Miller, R-Calif., as chairman of the International Monetary Policy Subcommittee; and Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, as chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.
SOURCE: Office of Rep. Spencer Bachus