Barney Frank's Words Stricken from Congressional Record Over Personal Attack on Fellow Congressman

Congressman Barney Frank went too far today. While railing against Republicans for allegedly stealing credit for several bills from Democrats, Frank specifically singled out several Republicans for personal criticism.

"Madame Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds to say I have never seen truth stood on its head more rapidly than by my colleague from Texas. He accused us of being too concerned about credit, and said 'I and my friends,' well I'm proud to say that the Republican member from Arizona, Mr. [David] Schweikert, is someone I consider a friend, and that's one of the people from whom the credit was stolen. This notion that 'who cares about the credit,' if that were honestly what the Republican leadership believed, why did they take the credit from Mr. Schweikert and Mr. [Jim] Himes, and give it to Mr. [Ben] Quayle?" Frank shrieked. "It is they who engage in this credit grabbing!"

Watch the video of the outburst below:

Immediately after Frank's remarks, Republicans called for the remarks to be "taken down," which in the House means for them to be stricken from the record. This was agreed to.

Frank's outburst comes in reference to an accusation by Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) that Rep. Ben Quayle (R-AZ) recently introduced a bill that is effectively the same as Mr. Himes', only with Quayle's name on it as the sponsor.