Warren Presses Bessent on Self-Inflicted Rapid Rise in Treasury Yields

Warren Presses Bessent on Self-Inflicted Rapid Rise in Treasury Yields

"President Trump's and your agenda is hitting families with the one-two punch of rising inflation and higher borrowing costs."

"Surging Treasury yields carry real consequences for American families. Rising Treasury yields increase mortgages, car loans, and credit cards, adding even more costs to Americans' monthly budgets."

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, wrote to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent regarding recent news that the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 5.34%, its highest level since 2002. In February, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the 10-year would not exceed 4.4% for at least three decades. The Trump Administration accomplished the feat in less than eight months.

Treasury yields are directly connected to Americans' borrowing costs: higher yields mean higher interest rates for mortgages, car loans, credit cards, and every form of consumer credit. And yields have been surging since Trump launched his illegal war in Iran that has fueled higher inflation across the globe. "Rather than advise the President to lower costs, you have chosen to launch unprecedented and chaotic interventions in the market, apparently in hopes of stemming the damage," wrote Ranking Member Warren. "On August 19, 2026, the Treasury Department announced its plan to double the size of its buyback operations, in which it issues short-term Treasury bills to buy back longer dated bonds." This intervention has only sent yields higher.

In the letter, Ranking Member Warren emphasized the consequences of surging Treasury yields on borrowing costs for American families.

The Ranking Member described the historic yields as just one front of the Trump Administration's "multi-theater war" on affordability, which includes rising inflation, record energy prices, and higher interest rates.

"As American families continue to struggle with higher costs driven by the Trump Administration's policies," wrote Ranking Member Warren. "I write to ask how the Treasury Department plans to address the harm to families and risks to the financial system from skyrocketing interest rates, which are driven in part by President Trump's failed economic agenda and your market misadventures."

"The surge in Treasury yields is self-inflicted and follows the Fed's decision to raise the federal funds rate by a quarter of a percentage point, driven by concerns about inflation," the Ranking Member continued.

"Since the start of the Iran War, American families have paid $56.4 billion more on gas than they would have had President Trump chosen not to attack Iran," the Ranking Member concluded. "Sky-high food prices force families to make difficult choices at the grocery store. And with surging Treasury yields, Americans have to pay more to borrow money while they're already struggling to get by."

###

• Print
• Email
• Tweet