Freedom Caucus members already on the powerful House Oversight Committee will be facing progressives like New York freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats eager to make waves while investigating President Donald Trump and his administration.
Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., had already been named to the Financial Services Committee, but after she told House leaders she was also interested in being on the Oversight Committee, she got a waiver to serve on both, reports Politico.
She'll be joined by other outspoken new Democrats, such as Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., who got the nation's attention with an obscene pledge to impeach Trump.
They're already being compared to the Freedom Caucus, whose top members Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Mark Meadows, R-N.C., investigated Eric Holder's Department of Justice and the Benghazi attack.
However, the new Democrats said they're not worried about facing off against the Trump loyalists.
“Some people feel like it’s only Republicans who have the right to get passionate about politics. It’s not just Republicans. It’s Democrats, too,” said committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the Oversight Committee.
“Progressives are fighting mad about what the Trump administration has done with America. So if they don’t like it, they’re just going to have to learn to live with it.”
Meadows said he believes there would be fireworks, even though a potential barnburner was put on hold Wednesday, when ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen said he had decided to postpone his testimony before the committee in February, claiming he and his family had been threatened by Trump and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.