Bachus, Issa Confirmed as Committee Chairs

Rep. Spencer Bachus was approved by the Republican conference Wednesday to become chairman of the Financial Services Committee next year.

"This is a tremendous honor," said Bachus in a press release.

Bachus said he would protect the taxpayers by ending the concept of too big to fail, addressing the drain on the government from the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and revisiting Dodd-Frank to remove any undue burdens.

"As chairman of the committee, I will honor our pledge to America and act on the priorities the American people delivered us last November," he said. "We are going to protect taxpayers by ending 'too big to fail' and the administration's unlimited bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We are 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."

The Alabama Republican also put oversight of the Obama administration high on his agenda.

"We will reinvigorate the committee's oversight role, holding the President and his economic team accountable for their policies and demanding greater efficiency and savings in government programs that fall within our jurisdiction," he said.

Bachus praised key Republicans on the committee, referring to them as leaders and saying he looks forward to work with them to implement a joint agenda next Congress.

"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," he said. "We had a great committee leadership team this Congress — Judy Biggert, Shelley Moore Capito, Scott Garrett, Jeb Hensarling, Gary Miller, Randy Neugebauer, and Ron Paul — and I look forward to working with them to implement our policy agenda in the next Congress."

House Republicans also approved Rep. Darrell Issa to become chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee next year.

Issa, a California Republican has been an outspoken critic of several of the government's actions to shore up the economy, plans to continue to make oversight of financial services issues part of the panel's purview next year.

Issa joined the panel in 2005, and has served as the ranking Republican since 2008.

"It's always easier to be careless with other people's money and the fact that Washington has somehow institutionalized waste, fraud and abuse is indicative of how broken this place has become," Issa said in a press release.

This story was reprinted with permission from American Banker.

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