Preemptive Strike on the UIGEA Rules by Barney Frank

With only about six weeks left before the UIGEA rules go into effect, Rep. Barney Frank, is finally picking the ball back up. Rep. Frank and 18 other representatives have sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

A similar letter was sent earlier by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) along with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the American Greuyhound Track Operators Association, to the same persons. 

The reason for the letter was to ask Geithner to use Administrative Procedure Act to delay the implementation of the UIGEA rules for a period of one year. That would delay it until December 1^st, 2010. This move would give UIGEA’s opponents another year to fight the law without having to worry about a six week deadline.

The note by Rep. Frank has a list of supporters listed. The supporters are all members of the Financial Services Committee and is fully bi-partisan: 

In Frank’s letter, he begins by detailing how the UIGEA rules were officially approved on January 19th, 2009, one day before current U.S. President Barack Obama took office. Specifically, he states:

“We realize this is not a task you requested. We also believe this is an unreasonable burden on regulators and the financial services industry at a time of economic crisis, and it contradicts the stated intent of the Financial Services Committee.”

The list of supporters in the note were all members of the Financial Services Committee and is a bi-partisan group: Frank, Peter King (R-NY), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Ron Paul (R-TX), Melvin Watt (D-NC), Judy Biggert (R-IL), Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Leonard Lance (R-NJ), Michael Capuano (D-MA), William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Paul Hodes (D-NH), Ron Klein (D-FL), Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), Bill Foster (D-IL), André Carson (D-IN), Walt Minnick (D-ID), Steve Driehaus (D-OH), Jim Himes (D-CT), and Dan Maffei (D-NY).