Waters lines up support in bid for top Financial Services spot

By Peter Schroeder - 11/16/12 12:57 PM ET

Rep. Maxine Waters is lining up support in her bid to take over as the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee.

The California Democrat has secured the backing of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. In addition, the entire delegation of California Democrats is backing her bid to Democratic leaders.

The heads of the three minority caucuses all signed on to a "Dear Colleague" letter, sent Thursday, which hails Waters as a "leader and influential voice on critical financial services issues."

That letter hails Waters as one of the first lawmakers to recognize the nation's foreclosure crisis, and notes that she has either chaired or been the ranking member on all the subcommittees of the banking panel.

"This experience has afforded her to draft and promote legislation to improve the nation's housing programs, banking sector, and capital markets," they wrote.

The letter keys in on Waters's work to help struggling homeowners, as well as advance the interests of minorities and women. It also praised Waters for advocating for debt relief for Haiti following the 2010 earthquake.

Meanwhile, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, head of the California Democratic delegation, signed off on a letter making similar points, also noting that Waters pushed to improve the White House's housing relief efforts.

"Representative Waters is prepared to lead Democrats on important, complex issues that will be front-and-center in the 113th Congress, including the future of housing finance and the Government Sponsored Enterprises," Lofgren said.

Waters is widely expected to take over as the top Democrat on the committee in 2013, following Rep. Barney Frank's (D-Mass.) retirement. The only major threat to her candidacy was addressed in September, after the House Ethics Committee officially cleared her of all ethics charges stemming from a long-running investigation into whether she helped secure financial support during the financial crisis for a bank in which her husband had substantial investments.