An elevation to the vice ranking member position, while it’s not yet final, would give the well-known third-term progressive Democrat a high-profile perch to tangle with Republicans on a laundry list of controversial investigations they’re planning — on topics ranging from Hunter Biden’s business dealings to the southern border to GOP efforts to probe the “origins” of the coronavirus.
“There’s been conversations, but nothing’s been finalized,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a brief interview Friday when asked about her interest in the party’s No. 2 position on the panel, which is sparking open discussion among her fellow Democratic lawmakers.
Should Ocasio-Cortez become vice ranking member, she’s also likely to take on more responsibility in helming Democrats’ messaging and strategy on a panel that’s stocked with some of the House GOP’s most rhetorically rowdy conservatives, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). That’s in part due to the cancer treatment that Oversight’s current ranking member, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) is currently undergoing.
“I have the greatest admiration for her skill, and I’m sure we’re going to be able to deploy her to maximum effect on the committee, along with all these other amazing new members,” Raskin said in an interview about her position on the committee, declining to directly address whether Ocasio-Cortez would become his No. 2.
A Democratic aide noted that Ocasio-Cortez would be able to sit in for Raskin on the committee if he’s absent during hearings, a role typically played by the No. 2 member on any panel but one that other panel members are also able to assume.
Ocasio-Cortez and Raskin worked closely together during the last Congress, particularly on the Oversight subpanel he then chaired overseeing civil rights issues. The younger New Yorker had served as the subpanel’s vice chair, and the duo’s close relationship had fueled speculation among some Democrats that Ocasio-Cortez would follow Raskin as he rose on the committee.
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