Maxine’s not far-left enough for the Freshman communistas

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Maxine, a socialist if ever there was one, is under assault by the Freshman communistas. According to a report by Zachary Warmbrodt at Politico, the Freshman [leftists] are fighting with her over procedures and her committees’ ‘moderate’ policies.

California Democrat Katie Porter fought with her over committee procedures. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other members of the Squad of progressive female lawmakers withheld their support from her over the Export-Import Bank.

Their staff has pressed Maxine’s team to give them more time to weigh in on bills.

Maxine Waters, screengrab

It’s odd that the target of the progressives [communistas] is a leftist icon, Auntie Maxine Waters, chair of the House Financial Services Committee.

According to the report, Maxine “is facing growing dissatisfaction — and at times outright rebellion — from high-profile, left-leaning lawmakers who joined the panel earlier this year.”

“Some progressives have openly lamented the committee’s leanings toward more moderate, business-friendly Democrats who dominate its ranks — a dynamic largely outside of Waters’ control. Ocasio-Cortez vented at a Nov. 19 hearing on private equity that she was “quite upset” with softball questions that members on both sides of the aisle were tossing at representatives of leveraged buyout firms tied to mass layoffs at companies like Toys “R” Us.”

“There’s sometimes been some tensions,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview.

Anything that doesn’t destroy businesses is not okay with O-Cortez.

Waters is a corrupt 81-year-old who now has to deal with upstart leftists. Her committee is polarized.

“To some extent, the tensions were inevitable when the newly elected batch of progressive lawmakers landed spots on the committee in January. They were immediately seen as a threat to moderates and a potential leadership challenge for Waters as she tried to unify her caucus,” Warmbrodt writes.

In general, Ocasio-Cortez told Politico, there has been a tendency to give priority to “conservative seat needs” out of protection for swing-state members.

“It’s always very tough,” she said.

When she’s talking “conservative,” she’s talking left-wing, just not as left-wing as she is.

The leftists — the Squad in particular — feel Waters gives industry a pass. They don’t like industry, period.

Waters and Porter, a protege of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have had the most open conflict among the freshman group, according to Politico.

Porter, a former professor who flipped a Republican-held seat in Orange County last year, has battled with Waters over her use of visual aids at committee hearings.

Waters, prompted by committee Republicans, has stopped Porter from using the props when questioning witnesses at hearings, warning Porter that she’s violating committee rules.

“We’ve talked about this before,” Waters told Porter after asking her to put down a “Financial Services Bingo” board at a debt collection hearing in September.

Porter shot back: “Are we adding additional committee rules at this time?”

The hearings usually aren’t “spicy enough for me,” Porter said. She wants the visuals.

She is doing the late-night talk show circuit on the issue.

“The chairwoman overruled my use of this,” Porter told “Late Night” host Seth Meyers as he held up the bingo board that Waters shut down.

How she won in Orange County is a mystery. Did all the Republicans move?

Tensions apparently escalated in October. Waters wanted to rally the troops for her little Export-Import Bank. It guarantees loans [subsidized with tax dollars] for overseas business.

Republicans were boycotting the bill and Waters needed to push it through committee on a party-line vote.

Waters was likely to lose support from Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) after they made an unsuccessful attempt to attach amendments that would have imposed stringent environmental protections in deals financed by the agency. Waters rejected the amendments as she tried to maintain support for the underlying bill.

With even Democratic votes in doubt, Waters called Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to her committee room to help make sure Porter — dressed as Batgirl for Halloween — was on board and would not join the opposition, sources familiar with the matter said.

Porter ended up voting for the bill, and it doesn’t appear she ever threatened to vote against it, raising further questions about her relationship with Waters.

Porter caused a lot of trouble.

The incident surprised some longtime committee members, who said they’d never seen anything like it.

The rift over the Export-Import Bank isn’t the only recent dispute that’s erupted over committee bills.

There is more at Politico, but suffice it to say the Squad and Porter are making her life difficult. Their respect for authority is nearly non-existent.


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Jules P Guidry
Guest
Jules P Guidry
4 years ago

Reps hold their seats for 2 years. Its time for the Repubs to make an all out effort to get rid of the socialist/commies wherever possible. This must be done to keep this nation a Constitutional Republic.
Otherwise, we will see a continuation of the madness of the last 3+ years in Trump’s 2nd term.
Just sayin’.

herbert r richmond
Member
herbert r richmond
4 years ago

Good Lord what a mess. Madness!!!!