Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is gunning to be the vice ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, which would presumably place her second in line to become the ranking member or chairwoman if Democrats retake the House in 2024.
The “vice ranking member” position was first created in 2017 to elevate junior members the Democrat Party wants to take on a more public role. Ocasio-Cortez’s appointment to the position would indicate a greater infiltration by the populist left into the establishment.
Assigned positions on the committee are not yet finalized. The Democrat leadership is reportedly negotiating toward a final roster of assignments on Monday before the first full Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday.
“There’s been conversations, but nothing’s been finalized,” Ocasio-Cortez told Politico regarding the position. “I think I’m going to have a lot of fun on this committee.” She added:
Of course, [Republicans are] going to be calling hearings on horrible things, but our job is to protect the people and protect the vulnerable communities that they seek to attack. [I]t gives us an opportunity and a platform to de-legitimize a lot of the disinformation that they’ve been advancing.
Ocasio-Cortez’s assignment to the committee comes as it gears up to investigate a host of abuses under the direction of Chairman James Comer (R-KY).
Under his leadership, the committee has pledged to investigate the southern border invasion, pandemic-era fraud, the deadly Afghan withdrawal, the energy crisis, the origins of the pandemic, and the Biden family’s influence peddling.
The first committee hearing will be held Wednesday on pandemic-era wasteful spending.
“We owe it to Americans to identify how hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars spent under the guise of pandemic relief were lost to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement,” Comer said in the announcement.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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