Heller, Coburn Join Senate Banking Panel

WASHINGTON — Republican Sens. Dean Heller of Nevada and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma will be joining the Senate Banking Committee in the new Congress. 

The two lawmakers will fill posts vacated by Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi. DeMint announced he would resign at the end of 2012 to lead the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Wicker has taken different committee assignments in the new Congress. Senate Republican announced their new assignments late Thursday.

Heller, who previously worked in the financial services industry and served on the House Financial Services Committee, was backed during the fall election by Friends of Traditional Banking, a superPAC founded by bankers.

Coburn does not have a long history with the banking industry, but was involved in congressional scrutiny of HSBC’s anti-money laundering problems. He served three terms in the House in the 1990s and joined the Senate in 2005.