RM Warren Opening Remarks at Secretary Bessent Hearing

Thank you Mr. Chairman. So Secretary Besant, 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. Healthcare 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 have been massive tax cuts for billionaires. Big bank supervision has been cut to the bone. And sidelining the cops could 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 has walked into a grocery store knows that prices are up. Secretary Besant tells workers that the Trump 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. But American families aren't fooled when Secretary Besant and President Trump try to tell them that the sky is not blue and that water is not wet. Hardworking 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 Besant 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 Besant could have used FSOC over the last year to tighten regulations so that we don't face more bank failures like 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 that 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. What has he done for consumers? Secretary Besant 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 as many people as they want and he and Donald Trump will look the other way. But it's not just about rolling back safeguards. Secretary Besant is ignoring emergent risks in 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 Besant and FSOC have their eyes shut tight and 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 Besant'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 Besant don't wake up and change course quickly, the economy may keep delivering for billionaires, but it's going to get even worse for American families. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.