In a world where control of both the House and Senate flips in 2025, the Capitol’s most powerful lawmakers in financial services policy will likely be Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.).
That relationship — to the extent it exists — isn’t off to a good start.
We recently spoke to Waters about her agenda in 2025 if she retakes the House Financial Services Committee gavel. But enacting that agenda may hinge on Scott, who told us last month he was more interested in leading the Senate Banking Committee from the majority than securing a role in a second Trump administration.
So we asked Waters how she felt about Scott as a legislative partner. Her responses were frank, and they don’t bode well for bicameral cooperation between a Democratic House and a Republican Senate.
“I don’t have a relationship with him at all. I don’t know him. I’ve never had a conversation with him,” Waters said of Scott. It’s not unusual for ranking members on opposite sides of the Hill to not work together often, if ever.
That doesn’t mean Waters doesn’t have an opinion about Scott. “I have witnessed some of his remarks that make me very uncomfortable,” she said. “So, I don’t know what the possibilities are.”
What Scott remarks have made her uncomfortable? “Well, first of all, the way he lapdogs up to [Donald] Trump bothers me a lot,” the California Democrat replied.
More from Waters:
Zoom out: Waters’ feelings here aren’t exactly a shock. The California Democrat has frequently decried “extreme MAGA Republicans” during HFSC hearings over the years. In February, Waters said MAGA Republicans were “the biggest threat to our national and economic security.”
Scott, meanwhile, spent much of this year campaigning for Trump in a quest to be Trump’s vice president.
But there’s something to be said for an opportunity here. For one thing, the Waters-Scott pairing would be historic. Waters was the first Black lawmaker tapped to lead her powerful House committee in 2018, and Scott would be the first Black senator to lead the Senate Banking panel.
Scott and Waters also have a shared interest in reforming the housing system. That’s been a progressive priority for a while, but Scott’s interest and elevation of the issue is fairly novel for a GOP lawmaker, historically speaking.
Of course, Scott and Waters’ approaches to housing reform have fundamental differences. Scott’s approach would change how Congress oversees federal housing regulators, introduce some new financial literacy requirements and prioritize HUD housing grants in “opportunity zones.”
But Scott’s ROAD to Housing Act doesn’t actually provide more funding for housing development. That’s a problem for Waters.
“It’s not about financial literacy and other kinds of things that don’t require a lot of money, a lot of resources,” Waters told us. “It’s about having the resources. It’s about appropriations.”
Republicans aren’t convinced more federal spending will address the housing crisis. Ryann DuRant, minority spokesperson for the Senate Banking Committee, said the government had “spent trillions of taxpayer dollars that have yielded little results,” pointing to the current Black homeownership rate of about 44%, which is more or less the same as it was in 1968. That rate peaked in 2004 at 49%, but much of Black America was hit especially hard by the Great Recession following the 2008 financial crisis.
In a statement, Scott said he was “committed to working with members on both sides of the aisle.” The South Carolina Republican added that on the banking panel, he had “prioritized empowering underserved communities by introducing comprehensive solutions — from housing legislation to capital markets reform — to challenges facing Americans who have been left behind.”
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