Rep. Barney Frank, the coauthor of the comprehensive financialoverhaul bill that Congress passed last year, isn't going to seekreelection, his office confirmed Monday.

Frank (D-Mass.) who became the ranking Democrat on the HouseFinancial Services Committee after losing his chairmanship when hisparty lost the majority last year, has served in Congress since1981.

The Dodd-Frank bill passed mostly along party lines and waspushed by the Obama administration as part of its response to thefinancial crisis that it inherited.

During his tenure, he's expressed support for the work of creditunions and said that if all financial institutions had acted asresponsibly as most credit unions did there would probably not havebeen a financial crisis.

The political action committees of CUNA and NAFCU regularly gavehis campaign contributions, often the maximum amount of$10,000.

Frank also has been a staunch supporter of the ConsumerFinancial Protection Bureau, created by the Dodd-Frank bill. Herarely had a difficult reelection race though last year was held to54% of the vote.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) is in line to succeed Frank as thetop Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee.