At Hearing, Warren Calls Out Bessent for Denying Basic Facts About Affordability

At Hearing, Warren Calls Out Bessent for Denying Basic Facts About Affordability

"If you're just going to insult people by denying the facts that are out there and tell people they're doing great when they're struggling, I think that's just another way to say you don't have a plan to bring down these prices."

Watch opening statement here (YouTube) | Watch Q&A here (YouTube)

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, gave opening remarks and questioned Scott Bessent, the Secretary of the Treasury, on President Trump and his Administration's lies about affordability.

Below is Ranking Member Warren's opening statement as delivered:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Secretary Bessent, as one of President Trump's top economic advisors, you have a lot to answer for.

Donald Trump campaigned on lowering costs "on Day One." Those were his words, over and over. But 381 days into his term, Trump's economic policies have driven prices up. Grocery prices are up. Electricity prices are up. Health care prices are up. The cost of building housing is up.

President Trump's economic agenda is failing families, but boy it is working great for Wall Street and Trump's billionaire buddies. There has been: Massive tax cuts for billionaires. Big bank supervision cut to the bone. Sidelining the cops who go after white-collar crime.

Meanwhile, middle class families get the short end of the stick. Unemployment is growing and prices are up. But American families can't even get the basic respect of a straight answer from Team Trump.

The President lies about prices being lower - when every family that has walked into a grocery store knows prices are up.

Secretary Bessent tells workers that the administration has created a "blue collar boom" - while Donald Trump's own Labor Department reports that manufacturing jobs are down by 71,000 since Trump took office.

Look, American families aren't fooled. When Secretary Bessent and President Trump try to tell them that the sky is not blue and that water is not wet, hard working people know in their pocketbooks just how big those lies are. They also know that Trump and his team don't have any plans to fix what is broken.

Secretary Bessent is here today in his role as Chair of the Financial Stability Oversight Council. Congress created FSOC after the 2008 financial crash to protect families from large financial institutions that load up on debt and then turn around and crash our economy.

Secretary Bessent could have used FSOC over the last year to tighten regulations so that we don't face more bank failures like the Silicon Valley Bank or First Republic Bank that crashed less than three years ago.

Instead, he has helped to get rid of the guardrails so banks can load up on even more risk. He's boosted profitability for giant banks and pay for CEOs while making it more likely that all of this ends in yet another taxpayer bailout.

And what has he done for consumers? Secretary Bessent tried to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency that has returned more than $21 billion directly to Americans cheated by big banks and giant corporations. He's effectively told the banks they can cheat people as much as they want and him and Donald Trump will look the other way.

But it's not just about rolling back safeguards. Secretary Bessent is ignoring emerging risks for the economy. The private credit market looks like a ticking time bomb. Late last year, Moody's found that banks had $300 billion of exposure and that the risk posed by these shadowy holdings is growing.

And as Jamie Dimon said, quote, "When you see one cockroach, there are probably more." But Secretary Bessent and FSOC have their eyes shut tight and have decided they don't see any cockroaches at all.

Here's all you need to know about what's happening under President Trump's - and Secretary Bessent's - watch. Middle-class families are paying higher prices for just about everything while it becomes harder and harder to get a raise or find a job. Meanwhile, Wall Street CEOs are getting the kid glove treatment as Trump policies may be edging the economy closer and closer to another disastrous financial crash.

Now President Trump is so busy raking in cash from foreign governments and building his gold-encrusted ballroom that he's completely out of touch with how his economy is making life harder for millions of Americans.

We are only one year into Donald Trump's second term. And if Trump and Bessent don't wake up and change course quickly, the economy may keep delivering for billionaires, but it is going to get even worse for American families.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Below is Senator Warren's exchange with Secretary Bessent on affordability:

Warren: For a solid year while he ran for President, Donald Trump promised pretty much everyday that he was going to lower costs "on Day One." On Day One, if he was elected-those were his words, not mine.

Secretary Bessent, you are one of the President's top economic advisors. Let's just start with a little truth-telling about the Trump economy one year in.

Affordability is the top concern for Americans across the country.

Donald Trump has called affordability - I want to get this right - a "hoax." He's called it a "scam." He's called it a "con job." You're the Secretary of Treasury, you know the numbers. Is affordability a hoax, a scam, or a con job?

Bessent: Senator, it may be a bit nuanced for you, but what President Trump is referring to is the media saying that the affordability crisis was generated by this administration when it was you and President Biden who destroyed the buying power of the American people.

So there is an affordability crisis and you were front and center in it.

Warren: So, let me make sure that I understand. Donald Trump is not saying that affordability, what's happening to families right now is a "hoax"?

Bessent: He is saying that trying to lay the blame at this Administration, rather than the Biden-Warren economy, is a hoax.

Warren: Okay so, it all happened before he got it. And everything that's happened since then, nothing is a hoax here.

Bessent: 21.5% cumulative inflation.

Warren: Let me just ask you, let me just ask about what's happened in the one year that Donald Trump has been President. Last week, President Trump said, quote, "We have the groceries going down." Did grocery prices drop in 2025?

Bessent: Numerous prices have.

Warren: Did groceries prices drop in 2025?

Bessent: Numerous grocery prices have gone down Senator.

Warren: I'm sorry, I don't know if you can't hear me. Did grocery prices drop in 2025?

Bessent: Numerous grocery prices have gone down.

Warren: Some of them. So do you- Have you seen? Please stop.

Bessent: And in fact, we have seen inflation at 2.1% for the past three months.

Warren: Have you seen the Bureau of Labor Statistics that is Donald Trump's own Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers that report that grocery prices were 2.4% higher at the end of 2025 than they were at the end of 2024. Trump's own Department of Agriculture has projected that those prices would climb higher in 2026.

And under Donald Trump, families are paying more and more for groceries.

If you're just going to insult people by denying the facts that are out there and tell people they're doing great when they're struggling, I think that's just another way to say, you don't have a plan to bring down these prices. You're not willing to admit the failures of the Trump Administration. I will ask you a question in just a sec here.

It's not just groceries. The numbers from Trump's own economic agencies show that Americans are paying more for utility bills, more health care, more for housing construction. Families aren't fooled by these lies. Mr. Secretary, you owe it to American families to own up what's going on.

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