One doesn’t often hear politicians in Washington offer criticism of officials in their own party as scathing as what Senator Bunning of Kentucky had to say yesterday about the secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Mr. Bunning called for the resignation of his fellow Republican, saying Mr. Paulson “is acting like the minister of finance in China.”

“No company fails in communist China, because they’re all partly owned by the government,” Mr. Bunning said, reacting to the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He said that Mr. Paulson and the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, “have taken the free market out of the free market.”

Mr. Bunning is a member of the Senate banking committee, which is chaired by a Democrat, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, who himself has promised a hearing on the Fannie and Freddie takeover. Mr. Dodd has called the takeover “unprecedented” and said, “there are still many unanswered questions about the Administration’s plan.” Mr. Bunning’s statement might seem extreme, but so, after all, is a government expropriation of two major financial institutions. It will be a hearing to watch.