Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) on Friday all but accused House Republicans of being too crazy and extremist to pass legislation the country needs to operate, such as bills related to farm and tax policy, or a bill to rescue the U.S. Postal Service.



Frank never used the word "crazy" in his speech on the House floor, instead saying, "The reason we have such a dismal record here is not because they are lazy, our Republican colleagues. It's more because of a word that rhymes with lazy, which the House rules will prohibit me from using."

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Frank, who is retiring at the end of the current Congress, went on to say that House Republicans don't have an understanding of how the government needs to work in concert with a free market economy.



"They simply do not understand the importance of our coming together and doing things in this complex economic society that cannot be done by the private sector," he said.



"It is an extremism. It's not laziness, it is extremism that grips the Republican Party so they are not able to discharge the normal functions of government."



Frank also charged that that House is broken because House Speaker John Boehner John Andrew BoehnerLongtime House parliamentarian to step down Five things we learned from this year's primaries Bad blood between Pelosi, Meadows complicates coronavirus talks MORE (R-Ohio) is frozen into inaction by Tea Party Republicans. For example, Frank said Boehner John Andrew BoehnerLongtime House parliamentarian to step down Five things we learned from this year's primaries Bad blood between Pelosi, Meadows complicates coronavirus talks MORE is "a Speaker who will not bring an agriculture bill to the floor that might very well pass because he's intimated by his own Tea Party extremist wing which rules him."



Frank was one of several House Democrats who spoke as the House was winding down its work this week, which is the last week of work scheduled in the House until after the November election. Before Frank spoke, several Democrats called on the House to remain in session to finish work on several issues, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) argued that the lack of Republican cooperation with President Obama is hurting economic growth.



