Warren Named to Senate Finance; Will Push for Wealth Tax

A fierce and powerful Democrat will be joining one of the Senate’s most powerful committees.  

On Feb. 2, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), who is the new, incoming chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, announced that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) will join the Committee in the 117th Congress. 

“I’m thrilled to welcome Senator Warren to the Finance Committee. Senator Warren has been a tireless advocate for the middle class and I look forward to working with her on a range of issues, particularly fixing our broken tax code and ensuring billionaires and mega corporations pay their fair share,” Wyden said in a statement.  

Coinciding with Wyden’s announcement, Warren announced that she plans to introduce legislation to implement a wealth tax on fortunes over $50 million—an issue that would come before the Finance Committee. 

“I’m very pleased to join the Finance Committee, where I’ll continue to fight on behalf of working families and press giant corporations, the wealthy, and the well-connected to finally pay their fair share in taxes,” Sen. Warren said. “I look forward to being a progressive voice at the table to secure meaningful relief and lasting economic security for struggling families, including as an aggressive advocate for accomplishing much of our agenda through the budget reconciliation process.” 

As a presidential candidate, Warren also pushed for a financial transaction tax to help pay for her proposed “Medicare for All” plan. Warren noted at the time that her proposal would raise “about $800 billion” over the next 10 years by what she called a “small tax on financial transactions.” Her FTT would have imposed a 10-basis point tax on the sale of bonds, stocks or derivatives, but there did not appear to be any exemption for investments in 401(k)s, IRAs or pension plans. 

While the following issues don’t necessarily come before the Finance Committee, she also has been a fierce critic of the Trump administration’s prohibited transaction exemption on investment advice, as well as the SEC’s Regulation Best Interest and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision vacating the Obama-era fiduciary rule. 

The Massachusetts Senator has also cosponsored legislation with Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) to create a national, online “lost and found” database to help plan participants keep track of their retirement accounts as they move from job to job. And she has previously offered support for the Butch Lewis Act to address the multiemployer pension funding crisis. 

Warren further notes that, as a member of the Finance Committee, she will seek to expand Social Security, lower drug prices and address college affordability, including cancelling student loan debt. 

It appears that Warren will give up her seat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee to join the Finance Committee, which covers taxation, revenue and Social Security. It also shares jurisdiction with the Senate HELP Committee in relation to ERISA-based issues and the PBGC. Warren also serves on the Senate Special Committee on Aging. 

Warren was a consumer bankruptcy law professor at Harvard Law School before defeating incumbent Scott Brown in 2012. She is well known as a consumer advocate on financial services issues, and her work with the Department of Treasury after the financial crisis is largely credited with the formation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.