Congressman Barney Frank, incoming chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, has proposed something big and bold — a grand bargain with labor and business to create a society more equal, more dynamic, and less bureaucratic.
Democrats control Congress by narrow margins, which limits their power to two areas. They can block things Republicans and business elites want — and hold those goals hostage for things Democrats and liberals want. And they can use the hearing process to shed light on the real America.

Frank plans to do both. His committee has broad economic jurisdiction.

Business, Frank explains, wants more trade and foreign investment deals. Business also wants relief from excessively bureaucratic audit and reporting requirements imposed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

But at least half the Democrats in the House — including Frank — have been skeptical of who benefited from recent trade deals. Democrats also voted with near unanimity for Sarbanes-Oxley, and some felt it did not go far enough.

So what would business have to give in return to get Democrats to support trade agreements and regulatory relief?

First, Frank wants to renegotiate the grand bargain first brokered by FDR — business has to learn to live with trade unions again, for there is no more effective force for greater equality of earnings. Specifically, Frank wants business to support a reform to allow a union to win recognition once a majority of workers signed union cards.

Present law requires unions to present a majority of signed cards, then wait for a secret election. In the interim, management can harangue and harass pro-union workers and fire organizers, and the penalties are so puny that union-busting campaigns are seen as a minor cost of doing business.

Second, Frank wants to tie trade deals to enforceable labor and environmental standards. And third he wants big business to support universal health insurance. “It’s in their interest anyway,” he says.

And finally, “They need to stop demonizing the public sector,” Frank says.

Read more about Frank’s plan here