Barney Frank

Massachusetts

Frank, 66, an openly gay man, is a leader of the liberal wing of the House Democrats and was elected in 1980. Under his leadership, the committee will almost certainly change gears to focus less on Wall Street and more on the social-policy issues under the panel's purview, especially expanded availability of affordable housing.

Although Vice President Cheney often roused Republican crowds by raising the specter of Frank as a chairman, it is the congressman's quick, sometimes vicious wit, not his partisanship, that has made him feared by his adversaries.

He is likely to ensure that the tough corporate-management regulations in the Sarbanes-Oxley law will stand, despite growing clamor in the business community to revisit the issue. And Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will face some tough questioning in his annual visits to the committee's hearings.