US Rep Ocasio-Cortez Likely To Win Financial Services Committee Seat

In a move that could put a lawmaker against Wall Street and even some members of her own party, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is expected to gain a House Financial Services Committee seat. The move could be seen as a victory for progressives, but some Democrats are viewing the move cautiously, Politico reported.

Some Democrats are worried that the progressive lawmaker will feel pressure to fight corporate interests. And some moderate Democrats are worried that they will be a target of Ocasio-Cortez, a politician who was brought into the national view and Congress by her inclination to go against even the establishment of her own party.

U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO), who is a senior Financial Services Committee lawmaker, has said that he did not have sufficient information to make a judgement on whether Ocasio-Cortez would be a “good member.” He said, according to Politico, “time will tell, and this one term will tell us a lot about her abilities as a legislator.”

The news comes as it was reported in November that Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters wanted the House Financial Services Committee to go in a new direction if she leads it. According to an unnamed source at the time, according to reports, “[Waters has] not been shy about the direction and focus she would take if she got the gavel; she’s just now literally putting it in writing, which got folks’ attention. Sort of like, ‘Oh…she wasn’t kidding!’”

According to reports at the time, Waters has long been focused on targeting international financial institutions for their roles in enabling money laundering for bad actors in China as well as Russia. It was also reported that a large target for Waters was Deutsche Bank, which has ties to President Donald Trump in addition to money laundering in Russia. In addition, reports indicated that Democrats will have subpoena power in January, which could speed up the pace of inquiries.