Scoop: Warren recruits trusted aide to Senate Banking Committee
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Photo: Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is tapping Jon Donenberg, a deputy on President Biden's National Economic Council, to be the Democratic staff director on the Senate Banking Committee.
Why it matters: Corporate America — not to mention the banking industry — is bracing for Warren in her new role as the committee's ranking member.
- Warren wants to use her new position to help define her party's response to the deep concerns Americans have about the economy and inflation.
- By reuniting with Donenberg, her longtime top policy and political aide, Warren will hit the ground running in the 119th Congress, with big plans to highlight her carrot-and-stick approach to lowering costs.
- It's another signal that Warren will use her high-profile position to advocate for direct subsidies to consumers and eviscerate corporate America if she thinks they are ripping off consumers.
Between the lines: The return of Donenberg is an indication that ranking-member Warren will be very similar to rank-and-file Warren.
Zoom out: During Obama's first term, Warren played a key role in establishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and advocated for holding banks to account for the causes of the 2008 financial crisis.
- After losing to Biden in the 2020 primary, she turned her focus to seeding the Biden administration with some of her trusted protégés.
- At the White House, Donenberg focused on Biden's response to junk fees and price gouging.
- They have both advocated for scrutinizing corporate mergers, like the failed Kroger-Albertsons deal.
Zoom in: At the White House, Donenberg played a key role in Biden's plan to build the country's industrial base — and bolster the middle class — as a way to increase America's standing in the world.
- That background will bring a national security element to Warren's economic agenda.
- Inside the White House he also advocated for bipartisan stablecoin legislation, which will be a heated topic in 2025 after it was left unfinished last year.
