Huffington Magazine Issue 59 | Page 13

CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES Enter reason. The phenomenon even has a name, given to us by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.): “the unreliable bottom row.” Gutierrez coined the term after a similar incident took place in the House Committee on Financial Services back in October of 2009, when the panel met to determine whether the lending practices of auto dealers would be subject to the oversight of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. On that occasion, Rep. John LOOKING FORWARD IN ANGST Campbell (R-Calif.), a former Saab dealer who was still stacking cheddar from his friends in the industry, proposed a bill that would exempt the industry from CFPB scrutiny. As Ryan Grim and Arthur Delaney reported: As usual, the members filed into the high-ceilinged first-floor hearing room in the Rayburn House Office Building. Committee Chairman Barney Frank oversaw the vote atop four tiered rows of seats, a full story above the witnesses and the audience. The longest-serving Democratic HUFFINGTON 07.28.13 Senate Finance Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) speaks with Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) in 2009.