Report: Elizabeth Warren Will Get Her Banking Committee Seat


Despite lobbying from the banking and financial industries, Elizabeth Warren will reportedly receive a seat on the Senate Banking Committee, the Huffington Post reports Tuesday, citing “four sources familiar with the situation.” From our vantage point, the prospect that she wouldn’t get a seat on the committee because of objections from the industry which fears her regulatory background and politics seemed ever more unlikely as time went on.

A Globe editorial set the stakes of the choice:

“For many of Warren’s supporters, [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid’s choice is now shaping up as an ideological fight for the soul of the Democratic Party, pitting a populist wing personified by Warren against more Wall Street-friendly Democrats.”

Given that framing, Barney Frank pointed out that Democrats faced some embarrassment if they caved. “Politically, it would be just a terrible self-inflicted wound if Democrats were to keep Elizabeth Warren off the Banking Committee,” he told WBUR. It’s one thing to take donations from the industry, but when the populism vs. Wall Street inter-party war plays out in such a public venue, it seems like a no-brainer that the Democrats would make a show of picking the populists.