Adams Joins Waters On House Financial Services Committee

By CASH MICHAELS

North Carolina Congresswoman Alma Adams (D-NC-12) is now a member of the Congressional U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, chaired by fiery California Rep. Maxine Waters, for the 116th Congress.

“I came to Congress to raise the wage, push for equal opportunity and to ensure that North Carolina’s families have the resources they need to thrive. That is why I made it my mission to serve on key committees” said Rep. Adams in a statement last week after the assignment was announced. “I worked hard to be appointed to the exclusive Committee on Financial Services; a major achievement for our District. We are home to 71 financial institutions that employ over 70,000 people. Financial Services will lead the push for affordable housing, an issue that plagues our region. On committee I will fight for our priorities and ensure that we remain the banking capitol of the South.”

The two-term North Carolina Democrat joins controversial New York City Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a new member. Rep. Adams is also a member of the committee’s Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion.

“I am pleased to welcome Congresswoman Alma Adams to the Financial Services Committee and the Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee,” said Chairwoman Maxine Waters of California. “This Congress, the Financial Services Committee will take on many important issues on behalf of consumers, investors and vulnerable populations, and I look forward to working with Congresswoman Adams to create opportunities, ensure fairness, and protect the economic well-being of hardworking Americans throughout this country.”

Chairwoman Waters, the first woman and the first African-American to lead the panel, has served as a member of Congress and the HFSC since 1991. She served as the HFSC ranking member in the 115th Congress, so once the Democrats reclaimed the majority after the 2018 midterm elections, Waters naturally assumed the leadership role.

Making clear that issues; such as more affordable housing, fairer consumer banking practices and other consumer protections would be the committee’s priorities, Waters made clear that “bringing accountability to the Trump Administration” was also a primary goal.

That “accountability” Waters plans to hold Pres. Trump to include requiring that the Republican president turnover his tax returns from prior years for review, something that every preceding commander-in-chief has done for the purpose of transparency.

But holding Trump’s feet to the fire doesn’t stop there.

Waters has vowed that the HFSC will join with the House Committee on Investigations to probe Deutsche Bank, and its relationship with Donald Trump.

“We know that Deutsche Bank is one of the biggest money laundering banks in the country, or in the world perhaps,” Waters told CNBC last week. “And we know that this is the only bank that will lend money to the president of the United States because of his past practices. He won't show his tax returns and we have certain information that leads us to believe that there may have been some money laundering activity ….”

Whatever HFSC Chair Maxine Waters ultimately finds, Rep. Alma Adams will be right there with her.