Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who has long been at the forefront of Washington’s fight for financial reform, will now serve in an even more prominent position in the Senate.
Warren was chosen by current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to serve as strategic policy advisor to the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. In the position, Warren will help to craft the Democratic Party’s policy positions and priorities, according to a report from CNN.
From the CNN report:
A Senate Democratic leadership aide said earlier that Reid would like Warren to join the leadership because he "trusts her and her judgment."
And while not every Senate Democrat wants Warren, a high-profile, liberal junior senator in a leadership post, the leadership aide said "Reid will get his way."
Warren was instrumental in the formation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and has continued in her fight against the “big banks” throughout her time in the Senate.
“Big financial institutions should not be allowed to break the law and just walk away,” Warren said in May. “The key is for the regulators to do their jobs and call out these banks. The bank regulators need to remember they are not there to serve the banks, they’re there to serve the American people.”
After Warren’s selection was announced, she told reporters that she will keep fighting for the middle class.
"Wall Street is doing very well, CEOs are bringing in millions more and families all across this country are struggling," Warren said. "We have to make this government work for the American people."
Warren also tweeted the following about her selection to the Democratic leadership:
.@SenatorReid asked me to join the caucus leadership as Strategic Policy Advisor. Change is tough but we're fighting for what we believe in.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) November 13, 2014
It’s not just the big banks that Warren has set her sights on.
Last month, Warren along with Congressman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., sent a letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, requesting a study of the risks posed to consumers by the “unprecedented” growth in nonbank mortgage servicing.
In the letter to the GAO, Warren and Cummings ask the GAO to study several areas that could potentially be impacted by the rise of nonbank servicers, specifically:
- The risks posed to consumers by the growth in nonbank specialty servicers generally
- The vulnerability of nonbank specialty servicers to volatility in the MSR market given the lack of requirements compelling these servicers to maintain capital cushions
- The likely effect on consumers should a major nonbank specialty servicers fail as a result of this vulnerability
- The effect of the nonbank specialty servicing industry generally should a major nonbank servicer fail
