Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent snapped at Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) instead of answering her question about whether tariffs have pushed inflation too high during an explosive clash on Tuesday.
The exchange came before the House Financial Services Committee, where Bessent was the sole witness for his annual testimony on the state of the international financial system, according to the committee’s hearing notice.
Waters, the committee’s ranking Democrat, spent her five minutes pressing the secretary for yes-or-no answers about the economy, and did not get them.
“If tariffs are not inflationary, as you claimed in your previous testimony, then why has inflation increased by more than 3% over the past year?” Waters asked at the hearing. “Do you deny that inflation is too high at 3%? Yes or no?”
“Representative Waters —” Bessent began.
“Yes or no, Mr. Secretary!” she pressed.
“You’re not making sense!” Bessent shot back.
“Reclaiming my time!” Waters said.
“No!” the secretary answered.
“It’s the gentlelady’s time,” said committee Chairman French Hill (R-AR), cutting in as the two spoke over each other.
“The time belongs to the gentlelady?” Waters asked.
“Indeed,” Hill replied.
“Indeed, it does,” Waters said, turning to the national debt.
“And so that’s not good enough, sir. You and President Trump, the so-called conservatives, you have overseen an increase in the debt to a record $40 trillion. $40 trillion,” Waters said. “You have promised reduced deficits but delivered only higher numbers and [higher costs] for American households.”
Minutes earlier, Waters had opened her questioning on Treasury yields, the interest rate the government pays to borrow money and a benchmark for American mortgage rates, according to Bloomberg.
“Mr. Secretary, do you agree that these high Treasury yields, or interest rates on Americans’ bonds, mean that loans paid by families to fix a roof or buy a car will also be expensive?” Waters asked him.
“The U.S. bond market has been the best-performing major bond market in the world,” Bessent answered.
“Yes or no, Mr. Secretary,” Waters said. “Reclaiming my time!”
The 10-year Treasury yield briefly topped 5% on Monday for the first time since 2023, Bloomberg reported, as inflation worries collided with the government’s swelling borrowing needs.
“I am the house now,” Bessent said at a Texas event on Sept. 8, daring traders to bet against his effort to hold yields down, according to Fortune.
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