BOSTON, Massachusetts-After 16 terms in Congress, Representative Barney Frank, the 71 -year-old Democrat from Massachusetts, has announced that he will not seek re-election in the next election cycle.

Frank was the chief negotiator with the George W. Bush Administration in 2008 when the Wall Street bailout was being fashioned in Washington. It was also during that 2008 crisis that Frank, along with Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut co-authored the Dodd-Frank Act, a bill to tighten up regulations on financial institutions and banks.

The former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee is expected to hold a news conference in Newton, Mass. at 1 pm. It is then that it is assumed he will formally announce his decision.

Barney Frank was first elected to the House in 1980, he is one of the first lawmakers to openly admit his homosexuality.