Nancy Pelosi taps Bill Foster to new House COVID-19 watchdog panel

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Wednesday named Rep. Bill Foster, D-Ill., to a new bipartisan House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis tasked with making sure the billions of dollars Congress is shoveling out the door is not "exploited by profiteers and price-gougers."

Foster is among seven Democrats Pelosi selected for the panel. It is not clear yet if Republicans will appoint anyone to the panel, created as part of the CARES Act. It is supposed to have seven Democrats and five Republicans as members.

"As House Speaker, I am proud to appoint these distinguished and accomplished leaders of the Congress and Country to the Select Committee on the Coronavirus," Pelosi said in a statement. "They bring outstanding mastery of Congressional oversight and decades of experience fighting for working families to our critical mission to ensure that our coronavirus response puts working Families First. We must make sure that the historic investment of taxpayer dollars made in the CARES Act is being used wisely and efficiently to help those in need, not be exploited by profiteers and price-gougers."

Besides Foster, other members on the committee are Majority Whip James Clyburn from South Carolina, who will serve as chairman; Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters of California; Oversight and Reform Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney of New York; Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velázquez of New York; Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Rep. Andy Kim of New Jersey.

Pelosi said the panel was "modeled after the Truman Committee that saved lives and billions of taxpayer dollars by preventing waste, fraud and abuse during World War II, this panel will protect against price gouging and profiteering and ensure that the federal coronavirus response is based on the best possible science and guided by our nation's leading health experts."

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