U.S. House of Representatives
Bill Clinton in 1994
Joe Biden signs the Methane, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and True Lender CRA Bills in 2021
Elections Upon the retirement of
Augustus F. Hawkins in 1990, Waters was elected to the
United States House of Representatives for
California's 29th congressional district with over 79% of the vote. She has been reelected consistently from this district, renumbered as the
35th district in 1992 and as the
43rd in 2012, with at least 70% of the vote. Waters has represented large parts of
south-central Los Angeles and the Los Angeles coastal communities of
Westchester and
Playa Del Rey, as well as the cities of
Torrance,
Gardena,
Hawthorne,
Inglewood and
Lawndale.
Tenure hearing during the
Impeachment inquiry against Bill Clinton On July 29, 1994, Waters came to public attention when she repeatedly interrupted a speech by Representative
Peter King. The presiding officer,
Carrie Meek, classed her behavior as "unruly and turbulent", and threatened to have the
Sergeant at Arms present her with the
Mace of the House of Representatives (the equivalent of a formal warning to desist). , this is the most recent instance of the mace being employed for a disciplinary purpose. Waters was eventually suspended from the House for the rest of the day. The conflict with King stemmed from the previous day, when they had both been present at a
House Banking Committee hearing on the
Whitewater controversy. Waters felt King's questioning of
Maggie Williams (
Hillary Clinton's chief of staff) was too harsh, and they subsequently exchanged hostile words. Waters chaired the Congressional Black Caucus from 1997 to 1998. In 2005, she testified at the
U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearings on "Enforcement of Federal Anti-Fraud Laws in For-Profit Education", highlighting the
American College of Medical Technology as a "problem school" in her district. In 2006, she was involved in the debate over
King Drew Medical Center. She criticized media coverage of the hospital and asked the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deny a waiver of the
cross ownership ban, and hence license renewal for
KTLA-TV, a station the
Los Angeles Times owned. She said, "The
Los Angeles Times has had an inordinate effect on public opinion and has used it to harm the local community in specific instances." She requested that the FCC force the paper to either sell its station or risk losing that station's broadcast rights. According to
Broadcasting & Cable, the challenges raised "the specter of costly legal battles to defend station holdings... At a minimum, defending against one would cost tens of thousands of dollars in lawyers' fees and probably delay license renewal about three months". Waters' petition was unsuccessful. As a Democratic representative in Congress, Waters was a
superdelegate to the
2008 Democratic National Convention. She endorsed Democratic
U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton for the party's nomination in late January 2008, granting Clinton nationally recognized support that some suggested would "make big waves." Waters later switched her endorsement to U.S. Senator
Barack Obama when his lead in the
pledged delegate count became insurmountable on the final day of primary voting. In 2009 Waters had a confrontation with Representative
Dave Obey over an
earmark in the
United States House Committee on Appropriations. The funding request was for a public school employment training center in Los Angeles that was named after her. In 2011, Waters voted against the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, related to a controversial provision that allows the government and the military to detain American citizens and others indefinitely without trial. Upon
Barney Frank's retirement in 2012, Waters became the
ranking member of the
House Financial Services Committee. On July 24, 2013, she voted in favor of Amendment 100 in H.R. 2397 Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2014. The amendment targeted domestic surveillance activities, specifically that of the
National Security Agency, and would have limited the flexibility of the
NSA's interpretation of the law to collect sweeping data on U.S. citizens. Amendment 100 was rejected, 217–205. On March 27, 2014, Waters introduced a discussion draft of the Housing Opportunities Move the Economy Forward Act of 2014 known as the Home Forward Act of 2014. A key provision of the bill includes the collection of 10 basis points for "every dollar outstanding mortgages collateralizing covered securities", estimated at $5 billion a year. These funds would be directed to three funds that support affordable housing initiatives, with 75% going to the National
Housing trust fund. The National Housing Trust Fund will then provide block grants to states to be used primarily to build, preserve, rehabilitate, and operate rental housing that is affordable to the lowest income households, and groups including seniors, disabled persons and low income workers. The National Housing Trust was enacted in 2008, but has yet to be funded. In 2009, Waters co-sponsored Representative
John Conyers' bill calling for
reparations for slavery to be paid to black Americans. For her tenure as chair of the House Financial Services Committee in the 116th Congress, Waters earned an "A" grade from the nonpartisan Lugar Center's Congressional Oversight Hearing Index.
CIA After a 1996
San Jose Mercury News article alleged the complicity of the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the Los Angeles
crack epidemic of the 1980s, Waters called for an investigation. She asked whether "U.S.-government paid or organized operatives smuggled, transported and sold it to American citizens". The
United States Department of Justice announced it had failed to find any evidence to support the original story. The
Los Angeles Times also concluded after its own extensive investigation that the allegations were not supported by evidence. The author of the original story,
Gary Webb, was eventually transferred to a different beat and removed from investigative reporting, before his death in 2004. After these post-publication investigations, Waters read into the Congressional Record a memorandum of understanding in which former President
Ronald Reagan's CIA director rejected any duty by the CIA to report illegal narcotics trafficking to the Department of Justice.
Allegations of corruption According to Chuck Neubauer and Ted Rohrlich writing in the
Los Angeles Times in 2004, Waters' relatives had made more than $1 million (~$ in ) during the preceding eight years by doing business with companies, candidates and causes that Waters had helped. They claimed she and her husband helped a company get government bond business, and her daughter Karen Waters and son Edward Waters have profited from her connections. Waters replied, "They do their business and I do mine." Liberal watchdog group
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Waters to its list of corrupt members of Congress in its 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2011 reports.
Citizens Against Government Waste named her the June 2009 Porker of the Month due to her intention to obtain an earmark for the Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center. Waters came under investigation for ethics violations and was accused by a House panel of at least one ethics violation related to her efforts to help
OneUnited Bank receive federal aid. Waters' husband is a stockholder and former
director of OneUnited Bank and the bank's executives were major
contributors to her campaigns. In September 2008, Waters arranged meetings between
U.S. Treasury Department officials and OneUnited Bank so that the bank could plead for federal cash. It had been heavily invested in
Freddie Mac and
Fannie Mae, and its capital was "all but wiped out" after the U.S. government took it over. The bank received $12 million in
Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) money. The matter was investigated by the
House Ethics Committee, which charged Waters with violations of the House's ethics rules in 2010. On September 21, 2012, the House Ethics Committee completed a report clearing Waters of all ethics charges after nearly three years of investigation.
Objection to 2000 presidential election results Waters and other House members objected to Florida's electoral votes, which
George W. Bush narrowly won after a contentious
recount. Because no senator joined her objection, the objection was dismissed by Vice President
Al Gore, who was Bush's opponent in the
2000 presidential election.
Objection to 2004 presidential election results Waters was one of 31 House Democrats who voted to not count Ohio's electoral votes in the
2004 presidential election. President
George W. Bush won Ohio by 118,457 votes.
Objection to 2016 presidential election results Waters objected to
Wyoming's electoral votes after the
2016 presidential election, a state
Donald Trump won with 68.2% of the vote. Because no senator joined her objection, the objection was dismissed by then-Vice President
Joe Biden.
"Reclaiming my time" In July 2017, during a House Financial Services Committee meeting, Waters questioned
United States Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin. At several points during the questioning, Waters used the phrase "reclaiming my time" when Mnuchin did not directly address the questions Waters had asked him. The video of the interaction between Waters and Mnuchin became popular on social media, and the phrase became attached to her criticisms of Trump.
Louis Farrakhan In early 2018, Waters was among the members of Congress the
Republican Jewish Coalition called on to resign due to their connections with
Nation of Islam leader and known
anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan, who had recently drawn criticism for antisemitic remarks. The
Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle noted that Waters had "long embraced Farrakhan" and refused to denounce him, even as other members of the Congressional Black Caucus who secretly met with Farrakhan in 2005 eventually did.
Confrontationalism Rodney King verdict and Los Angeles riots When south-central Los Angeles erupted in
riotsin which 63 were killedafter the
Rodney King verdict in 1992, Waters gained national attention when she led a chant of "
No justice, no peace" at a rally amidst the riot. She also "helped deliver relief supplies in Watts and demanded the resumption of vital services". Waters described the riots as a rebellion, saying, "If you call it a riot it sounds like it was just a bunch of crazy people who went out and did bad things for no reason. I maintain it was somewhat understandable, if not acceptable." In her view, the violence was "a spontaneous reaction to a lot of injustice." In regard to the looting of Korean-owned stores by local black residents, she said in an interview with
KABC radio host
Michael Jackson: There were mothers who took this as an opportunity to take some milk, to take some bread, to take some shoes. Maybe they shouldn't have done it, but the atmosphere was such that they did it. They are not crooks.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders On June 23, 2018, after an incident in which White House Press Secretary
Sarah Huckabee Sanders was denied service and asked to leave a restaurant, Waters urged attendees at a rally in Los Angeles to harass Trump administration officials, saying:If you see anybody from [Trump's] cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd, and you push back on them, and you tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere. Many on the
Right saw this statement as an incitement of violence against officials from the Trump administration. In response, House Democratic leader
Nancy Pelosi posted comments on
Twitter reported to be a condemnation of Waters' remarks: "Trump's daily lack of civility has provoked responses that are predictable but unacceptable."
Derek Chauvin trial in 2021 Comments by Waters on April 17, 2021, while attending
protests over the killing of Daunte Wright in
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, drew controversy. Responding to questions outside the Brooklyn Center police departmenta heavily fortified area that for days had been the site of violent clashes between law enforcement and demonstrators attempting to overrun itWaters commented on the protests and the looming jury verdict in the
trial of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer who at the time was charged with murdering
George Floyd. Before closing arguments in the trial, Waters said, "I hope we get a verdict that says guilty, guilty, guilty. And if we don't, we cannot go away", and when asked, "What happens if we do not get what you just told? What should the people do? What should protesters do?", Waters responded: We've got to stay on the street. And we've got to get more active, we've got to get more confrontational, we've got to make sure that they know that we mean business.In response to a question from a reporter about the
curfew in effect in Brooklyn Center, which loomed shortly, Waters said, "I don't think anything about curfew ... I don't know what 'curfew' means. Curfew means that 'I want to you all to stop talking, I want you to stop meeting, I want you to stop gathering.' I don't agree with that." The judge in Chauvin's trial said on April 19, 2021, that Waters' comments were "abhorrent" and that it was "disrespectful to the rule of law and to the judicial branch" for elected officials to comment in advance of the verdict. The judge refused the defense's request for a
mistrial, saying that the jury "have been told not to watch the news. I trust they are following those instructions", but also that "Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned". After Waters' comments, Republican minority leader
Kevin McCarthy said, "Waters is inciting violence in Minneapolis just as she has incited it in the past. If
Speaker Pelosi doesn't act against this dangerous rhetoric, I will bring action this week". On April 19, 2021, McCarthy introduced a resolution in the House to censure Waters, calling her comments "dangerous". The following day, the House voted to block McCarthy's resolution, narrowly defeating it along party lines, 216–210. Waters later said that her remarks in Brooklyn Center were taken out of context and that she believed in nonviolent actions. In an interview, she said, "I talk about confronting the justice system, confronting the policing that's going on, I'm talking about speaking up. I'm talking about legislation. I'm talking about elected officials doing what needs to be done to control their budgets and to pass legislation."
Bombing attempt Packages that contained pipe bombs were sent to two of Waters' offices on October 24, 2018. They were intercepted and investigated by the FBI. No one was injured. Similar packages were sent to several other Democratic leaders and to CNN. In 2019, Cesar Sayoc pleaded guilty to mailing the bombs and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Committee assignments For the
119th Congress: •
Committee on Financial Services (Ranking Member) • As Ranking Member of the committee, Rep. Waters is entitled to sit as an
ex officio member in any subcommittee meeting, per the committee rules.
Caucus memberships • Chief Deputy Whip • Founding member and Chair of the
Out of Iraq Caucus •
Congressional Progressive Caucus •
Congressional Black Caucus (CBC); past chair of CBC (
105th United States Congress) •
Medicare for All Caucus •
Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment •
Congressional Equality Caucus •
United States–China Working Group •
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus == Political positions ==