Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Running to be Top Democrat on House Oversight

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Ocasio-Cortez said she wants the committee to not only focus on oversight of the executive branch.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) announced on Dec. 6 that she is running to be the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, being the second one to throw her hat in the ring to succeed Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).

In a letter to Democrat colleagues, Ocasio-Cortez, who has represented New York’s 14th Congressional District since January 2019, said that being the committee’s ranking member is “not a position I seek lightly” and that the role is “consequential” with President-elect Donald Trump back in the White House.

Ocasio-Cortez said she wants the committee to not only focus on oversight of the executive branch.

“Now, more than ever, we must focus on the committee’s strong history of both holding administrations accountable and taking on the economic precarity and inequality that is challenging the American way of life,” she wrote.

Ocasio-Cortez, the committee’s vice ranking member, listed her credentials such as leading an investigation that led to an earlier release of a generic drug to prevent HIV, getting record refunds from defense contractors fraudulently price-gouging the American people, and passing paid leave for federal employees.

The Republicans will keep their majority in the House and therefore control the committees. The current chairman of the House Oversight Committee is Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.).

Despite being in the minority, Democrats can try to have an effect, according to Ocasio-Cortez. She pledged to work with Republicans “on constructive, shared interests that serve the American people whenever such opportunities arise.”

She cited working with Republicans on permitting reform as an example of her working in a bipartisan manner.

Additionally, Ocasio-Cortez called for “a different future for the American people … one that sees their struggles and fights for them, not just the powerful and the wealthy.”

In addition to Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) is running to be the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.

Connolly wrote in a Dec. 3 letter to Democrat colleagues that the committee’s Democrats “must be an aggressive team focused on defending American democracy from President Trump and articulating a Democratic agenda that resonates with our constituents.”

“Our constituents need to know that when it comes to them and their priorities, we are going to fight,” he wrote.

Connolly said that his 16-year experience on the committee makes him qualified to succeed Raskin.

Raskin is running to be the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. The current ranking member, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), announced this week he would not run to keep his role and instead endorsed Raskin as his successor.