BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts Sen.-elect Elizabeth Warren has been appointed to the Banking Committee, an assignment that was expected for the consumer advocate.

Warren, a Harvard Law School professor, was an outspoken supporter of the Obama administration’s newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but Republican opposition helped prevent her from heading it. Warren also led a congressional oversight panel that criticized the government’s bank bailout program.

The Banking Committee oversees implementation of the so-called Dodd-Frank financial system overhaul and other banking regulations.

Warren also was appointed Wednesday to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Aging Committees.

The Democrat defeated Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown. She takes office in January.

Warren said in a statement Wednesday, “America’s middle class has been squeezed hard, and there’s a lot we can do to level the playing field for families.”

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.