They're at it again! Via Mother Jones:
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.
Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), a banking committee member, has been angling to get Warren on the committee, "but there are many bank lobbyists pushing to keep her off," a top Democratic Senate aide told Politico's Morning Money tipsheet. But the aide added, "If she really wants banking, it will be very tough politically to keep her off."
Several banking trade groups—including the American Bankers Association, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, and the Mortgage Bankers Association—declined or didn't respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for Warren also declined to comment.
The big banks' opposition to Warren, a fierce consumer advocate, is no shocker. She supported the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, and she blasted Brown, who did vote for Dodd-Frank, for launching a "guerrilla war" to undermine its implementation. She backs the Volcker Rule, a limit on how much banks can trade with their own money. What may trouble the big banks most is Warren's call for revisiting the Glass-Steagall Act, which separated riskier investment banks from more staid commercial banks. Reinstating Glass-Steagall would mean breaking up sprawling Wall Street institutions such as JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America.
Last time I checked, Warren won her election to the Senate fair and square, and she won it largely based on the promise that she would fight for ordinary people's concerns. Her rise to prominence came with her fight for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the Dodd-Frank bill, which could possibly be the best part of the entire bill for ordinary people.
Also, last time I checked, Harry Reid was the Senate Majority Leader and has the right to appoint whichever Senators he chooses to whatever committees he deems fit. Therefore, this should be simple enough to resolve.
Harry Reid, appoint Elizabeth Warren to the Senate Banking Committee. There. Done.