Two new Republicans added to Senate Banking Committee

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans will welcome two new faces to the Banking Committee in 2019.

Sens. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and Martha McSally, R-Ariz., will sit on the panel, filling GOP vacancies left by the re-election defeat of former Nevada Sen. Dean Heller and the retirement of former Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. The GOP caucus announced the new assignments late Thursday.

Cramer’s assignment means that North Dakota will continue to have a seat on the panel after the former House member defeated Heidi Heitkamp, who had been a key Democratic vote on the committee.

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.
Senator-elect Kevin Cramer, a Republican from North Dakota, stands for videographers at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018. Congress returns to work this week with Democrats and Republicans promising to work together to avert a partial government shutdown and pass a handful of other bills, though President Donald Trump's demand to fund his border wall could blow up their plans. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

With the addition of McSally, Arizona will now have two senators on the committee. The former House Republican lost her Senate bid to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, but Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, R-Ariz., appointed McSally to a different seat formerly held by John McCain, who died in August.

Unlike Sinema, neither Cramer nor McSally served on the Financial Services Committee in the House. But both members supported the regulatory relief law enacted in May as well as a more sweeping reg relief bill, known as the Financial Choice Act, which failed to garner enough support in the Senate.

Despite Republican gains in the Senate, the ratio of Republicans to Democrats on the Banking Committee will remain the same in the new Congress.

The panel will continue to be chaired by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho.

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Regulatory relief Senate Banking Committee North Dakota Arizona Nevada Women in Banking
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