Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez D-N.Y., is expected to be one of several high-profile Democrats to join the House Financial Services Committee.
Financial lobbyists in touch with Capitol Hill staff also expect Reps. Katherine Porter, D-Calif.; Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.; and Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, to join the committee.
The new members could tilt the panel further left. Like Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley challenged a longtime Democratic incumbent in her primary, while Porter distinguished herself from Democratic opponents in California’s open primary system by gaining the endorsement of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Tlaib earned headlines earlier in January by enthusiastically proclaiming to a room of supporters that Democrats would impeach President Trump, a position House Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., also supports. Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran with the Army National Guard, announced her intention to run for president earlier this week.
While typically considered a plum committee assignment for a freshman, the committee may not have been Ocasio-Cortez’s first choice. The popular, progressive congresswoman made policies like free college, single payer government health insurance, and a “Green New Deal” her priorities. The Financial Services Committee does not hold primary jurisdiction over any of those areas, though it may give Ocasio-Cortez more say in issues that matter to her constituents who work in the financial services industry.
Among the other members expected to join the panel: freshman Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah, the former Salt Lake City mayor who defeated former Financial Services Committee member Republican Mia Love; Rep. Cindy Axne, D-Iowa, a small business owner; and Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-Ill., who mounted a primary challenge against Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2015.
