Rep. Maxine Waters said she would be "keeping a watchful eye on all of the financial regulators." | Zach Gibson/Getty Images finance & tax Waters targets Carson, Mulvaney in fighting Trump rollbacks

House Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters warned top Trump administration officials Wednesday that she plans to scrutinize their efforts to weaken consumer protections and fair housing safeguards, and vowed to introduce legislation to undo the rollbacks.

In her first major policy speech since taking over the powerful panel, the Los Angeles Democrat called out former CFPB acting Director Mick Mulvaney, who now serves as White House chief of staff, and HUD Secretary Ben Carson.


Though Mulvaney is no longer at the CFPB, Waters said she has informed him that "the time for accountability for his actions is about to begin." Carson, she said, had overseen "unprecedented attacks on fair housing."

Waters said she would be "keeping a watchful eye on all of the financial regulators."

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"It is a new day in Congress and for the Financial Services Committee," she said at a Washington event hosted by the Center for American Progress, a Democratic-leaning group.

The speech made clear that Waters — one of President Donald Trump's fiercest critics in Congress — plans to take full advantage of her watchdog role now that she has the committee's gavel. The agenda she laid out represented a stark shift from the committee's focus of the past several years, which under Republican control was largely defined by deregulation and the wish list of the finance industry.

"This was known as the juice committee," Waters said. "There's no more juice in this committee."

Waters previewed renewed attention on housing and homelessness. She said housing finance reform would need to include a comprehensive strategy on access to affordable credit and rental housing.

She said the committee will keep an eye on big banks and their activities, "including by holding many hearings." The committee will probe credit reporting, which she said needed a comprehensive overhaul. She said the panel will also pay close attention to financial technology firms as well and the risks they may pose to consumers.

Waters elaborated on plans for addressing the lack of minority and women representation in the leadership ranks of corporate America through a new diversity and inclusion subcommittee. She said the subcommittee needed to first compile information about diversity at major companies.

The Financial Services Committee is seeing an infusion of new members, including progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Waters praised them, saying they showed during their campaigns that they cared about looking out for families and holding big financial institutions accountable.

"They didn't just start thinking about this coming on to the committee," she said. "They wanted to come on to the committee, they know many of these issues and they're prepared to fight for our families."

As for Republicans, Waters said she planned to work with ranking member Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) on legislation and will reintroduce a bill with him related to insider trading.

Waters, who has called for Trump's impeachment and been harshly mocked by him as "an extraordinarily low-IQ person," conceded that "we are not relying on this administration for much of anything."

But she sees an opening to work with Senate Republicans.

"I believe that the Senate is going to join with us on many of these bills, with a few Republicans adding on," Waters said. "And then we're going to send it to whoever is president at the time."