Newly elected Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, whose career and recent campaign incorporated a vigorous critique of Wall Street misdeeds and power in Washington, stands a good chance of securing a seat on the Senate Banking Committee, according to Senior Senate Democratic aides who spoke anonymously to Reuters.
Warren, who is credited as the prime architect of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and chief watchdog of TARP, the $700 billion taxpayer bailout of the U.S. financial system, has called for breaking up the big banks and could move to block legislative attempts to weaken the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law, Reuters reports.
The Senate Banking Committee serves to influence policy decisions through oversight of financial services, international trade, insurance, housing, securities and economic issues.
With a seat on the committee, Warren would have to power to push for tougher regulations on Wall Street trading and rules that would compel mega-banks to shrink.
Warren's nomination is still speculation, and wouldn't occur before the new year; however, one of Reuters' sources, the anonymous aid, stated:
"If Senator-elect Warren indicates she'd like to serve on the banking committee, given her prominent work on those issues, she would certainly have a very good shot."