Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters reportedly wants the House Financial Services Committee to go in a new direction if she leads it, which is expected from the new Congress in January.
According to a report in Axios, one of the biggest changes will be combining oversight of “international financial institutions” with the Terrorism and Illicit Finance subcommittee, as well as getting rid of the Monetary Policy and Trade subcommittee. Axios noted that it sends a signal that Waters isn’t only planning on going after Deutsche Bank, but other financial players as well.
“[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!'” an unnamed source told Axios via text.
Waters has long been focused on targeting international financial institutions for their roles in enabling money laundering for bad actors in Russia and China, noted the report. A big target for Waters is Deutsche Bank, which has ties to President Donald Trump, as well as money laundering in Russia. In January, Democrats will have subpoena power, and that could pick up the pace of inquiries.
Other changes to the House Financial Services Committee could include getting rid of insurance from the Housing and Insurance subcommittee and renaming it Housing and Community Development. Waters also wants to change Consumer Credit with Consumer Protection for the Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit subcommittee, reported Axios.
In a statement, Waters’ office said: “Ranking Member Waters is in the process of having conversations with the Democratic members of the Committee about the Committee’s future structure and seeking their input. This process has not been completed.”
According to a recent report in the Los Angeles Times, Waters said she will focus on oversight of banks and will go after two banks that have been embroiled in scandals, including Deutsche Bank. “With Trump in the White House, I know that our fight for America’s consumers and investors will continue to be challenging. But I am more than up to that fight,” Waters wrote in a letter last week, which was obtained by the Times, to her Democratic colleagues on the committee. The paper noted that Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank were the only two banks named in the letter, which was eight pages long. In a subsequent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Waters said that looking into the ongoing problems at Wells Fargo is a top priority.
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