Ex-Financial Services chairman Bachus to retire after 11 terms

Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) announced Monday he’ll retire at the end of this Congress after serving 11 terms. 

The former financial services chairman announced his plans during a live interview on local television Monday morning. In a statement released after the appearance, he said it was “a family decision” to retire from Congress.

{mosads}”This was a family decision, because my wife Linda, our five children, and our seven grandchildren have always been my biggest source of support, strength, and joy,” he said.

Alabama’s 6th District is heavily Republican and will likely remain red in 2014.

As ranking member of the Financial Services committee, Bachus pushed back against the Obama administration’s financial regulatory efforts and was an outspoken critic of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

He also was among a number of high-ranking lawmakers whose personal financial moves garnered heightened scrutiny after a book and “60 Minutes” report suggested they may have used private information obtained on the job to make profitable stock market moves. 

Bachus denied the allegations, and the Ethics panel unanimously dismissed charges against him in 2012. 

Bachus said plans to continue to focus on cutting government spending during his final year in Congress.

“Since I will continue to be the representative for the 6th District until the end of my term, I do not consider today a ‘goodbye.’ There is much important work that remains to be done and what I would like to see above anything else before I leave is a spending reduction plan that will put the federal government on a sensible and sustainable financial path going forward,” he said.