Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., was appointed to the US Senate Judiciary Committee on January 9th. Harris, who already serves on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on the Budget, was joined by Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., on the committee, according to a news release. The Judiciary Committee oversees the U.S. Department of Justice, including the FBI, as well as the Department of Homeland Security.
“I look forward to the chance to continue to provide a voice for our most vulnerable communities, work on issues I’ve handled since my earliest days in the Alameda County District Attorney’s office, and defend California in the face of this administration’s repeated attacks on our values,” Harris said in a statement.
In taking the new assignment, Harris has left the Committee on Environment and Public Works. “While I will no longer serve on the Environment and Public Works Committee, I will continue to be a champion for California, which has an outsized stake in all issues relating to the protection of our environment,” the first-term senator said. “My commitment to fight for everyone’s right to drink clean water and breathe clean air is unwavering.”
As the former District Attorney of San Francisco and Attorney General of California, Harris worked extensively on issues that fall directly under the Judiciary Committee’s jurisdiction including criminal justice reform, federal criminal law, immigration law, human rights, consumer protection and internet privacy, according to her website.
Both Harris and Booker have been persistent critics of Attorney General Jeff Sessions in Congress. Harris gained notoriety and national attention for her prosecutorial style of grilling Sessions during intelligence hearings in June.
“I can’t help but think that it’s time we replace division with a new way of thinking,” Harris said on Facebook. “I’ve come up with a little equation which is this: diversity, because we are a diverse country, plus commonality, seeing what we all have in common, equals unity. Let’s agree that our diversity is our strength, and our strength is out (sic) unity,” Harris said. Unity in diversity would build “the muscle that will power our movement,” Harris concluded.