Scary lady
by digby
Lobbyists and trade groups for Wall Street and other major banking players are pressuring lawmakers to deny Warren a seat on the powerful Senate banking committee. With the impending departures of Sens. Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.) and Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Democrats have two spots to fill on the committee before the 113th Congress gavels in next year. Warren has yet said whether she wants to serve on the committee. But she would be a natural: she’s a bankruptcy law expert, she served as Congress’ lead watchdog overseeing the $700 billion bank bailout from 2008 to 2010, and she conceived of and helped launch the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
But the big banks are not fans of Warren, and their representatives in Washington have her in their crosshairs. Aides to two senators on the banking committee tell Mother Jones the industry has already moved to block Warren from joining the committee, which is charged with drafting legislation regulating much of the financial industry. “Downtown”—shorthand for Washington’s lobbying corridor—”has been going nuts” to keep her off the committee, another Senate aide says.
This should be very interesting to watch. Warren really bothers them. I assume they realize that a freshman Senator can’t single-handedly spoil their party, but evidently they also realize that this is no ordinary freshman Senator. This is one who was elected with a very specific portfolio, a national profile and who has some very special political gifts. And they do not want her to be the one who questions them at hearings or who has access to confidential committee documents.
What will be truly illuminating is whether her fellow Democrats agree with them.
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