The House Oversight Committee Will No Longer Be Run by a Bunch of Old, White Republican Men

Few things get me out of bed nowadays, but one incentive is the possibility I’ll get to watch Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez grill Donald Trump about the pee tape one day. So far, that’s been naught but a beautiful pipe dream, but it is possible it will soon be a reality, now that a handful of progressives have reportedly been appointed to the House Oversight Committee.

According to Politico, new House Oversight Committee members include the aforementioned Ocasio-Cortez, in addition to fellow freshman progressives Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley. Ro Khanna, a representative from California who joined the House in 2017, was also appointed to the committee, per reports. They join chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings, who approved the list of new members on Tuesday.

This is exciting for a number of reasons, and not just because this gang takes charge of a group whose majority members once consisted of sad, useless wheat lumps like Darrell Issa, Jim Jordan, and Mark Sanford. The House Oversight Committee currently holds the power to subpoena and investigate members of the Trump administration, which means there’s a good chance we’ll get to see progressives go after the White House for everything from border separation to pharmaceutical industry pricing to the Russia investigation.

Michael Cohen, for instance, is expected to appear before the committee next month; Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will appear in March, and is expected to address the 2020 census citizenship question.