Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services, delivered the following opening statement at the full Committee organizational meeting where the Committee approved the Subcommittee leadership and membership, the Committee Rules, and the oversight plan for the 118th Congress:

Today, we will be formally establishing our subcommittee leadership and membership. After a Committee Democratic Caucus meeting this morning, I am very pleased to be able to put forth the Democrat naming resolution for this Congress. We have a formidable slate of members including subcommittee ranking members who are coming into this Congress with passion and a willingness to roll up their sleeves and get things done for our constituents and our great nation. So, I congratulate these Members and look forward to their contributions in our Committee.

Today, we are also marking up the Rules that will govern our Committee for the remainder of the Congress. Unfortunately, Committee Republicans have made several changes to the Rules for the 118th Congress that I am not only deeply concerned with, but fear will lead to severe consequences and immense harm for members on this committee, as well as consumers and underserved communities across the country.

Let’s start with the elimination of the historic Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion. Four years ago in 2019, when I assumed the chair, I decided to create this Subcommittee to tackle the glaring disparities in the financial services industry. Under the leadership of my friend and former Subcommittee chair, Joyce Beatty, we made unprecedented changes to the financial services industry. We ushered in real, lasting change for women, communities of color, and minority-owned and women-owned businesses. But the work is far from over, and that’s why I am deeply disappointed in my Republican colleagues for coming to the conclusion that diversity and inclusion issues simply aren’t important enough to prioritize anymore. While, Chairman McHenry has indicated that diversity and inclusion would be specified as part of the jurisdiction of each subcommittee, based on these Rules, he has fallen short of that initial commitment. The bottom line is that a diversity and inclusion strategy with no tangible goals, accountability measures, or a senior point of contact, cannot be expected to result in any significant impact. 

Next, let’s talk about the new provisions in the rules resolution that add restrictive budgetary requirements for legislation considered by the Committee. These new provisions will ultimately make any new spending that much harder to pass, including new spending for badly needed affordable housing, and that’s a top priority for me. Not to mention, they will pave the way for even more tax cuts that are inevitably tilted toward the wealthy and profitable corporations. Under these new rules, so many of the crucial and bipartisan legislation that Democrats led to expand housing and are communities would have been subjected to a point of order under the new CUTGO rule.

While the name CUTGO suggests that it saves money, it does the complete opposite. What’s more, CUTGO has historically worked against expanding opportunity and economic growth. In fact, the last time the House imposed CUTGO was under President Trump, when Republicans passed a costly $2-trillion tax cut, all of which was added to our national debt.

Today, we will also be marking up the Republicans’ Authorization and Oversight Plan, which broadly sets forth the Committee’s agenda for the year. Again, I am disappointed with this document. There are many, very key issues that are completely or mostly overlooked by this plan, including homelessness, the affordable housing crisis, and diversity and inclusion. There is not even a single mention of inflation. These are many of the issues that I have heard the Chair say that he cares about but the words on these pages do not reflect those sentiments. Democrats will be offering amendments to try to fill in the gaps in this plan in an effort to ensure key priorities do not fall through the cracks.

Thank you, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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