Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) lashed out Wednesday at Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, telling him at one point to “shut up” after a tense exchange over inflation.
Waters suggested that President Trump’s tariffs were inflationary and that immigration enforcement was tanking housing affordability during a House Financial Services Committee hearing focused on the state of the U.S. economy and the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) annual report.
“Will you be the voice of reason in the administration and urge Trump to stop waging a war on American consumers?” the Los Angeles Democrat pleaded. “Yes or no?”
“You seem confused as to the definition of inflation,” Bessent began before Waters interrupted him to re-ask the question.
The two then began talking over each other, with Bessent noting that the Biden administration “let in between 10 and 20 million immigrants” who “took up the housing stock of working Americans.”
“Can you shut him up?” Waters butted in, asking committee chairman French Hill (R-AR) to restore order.
“Can you maintain some level of dignity?” Bessent replied.
Waters then complained to Hill that Bessent “took up my time” with his responses.
Bessent denied having authored a letter calling tariffs inflationary and pointed to federal data disputing that import duties raise prices.
“According to the San Francisco Federal Reserve, with 150 years of data, tariffs do not cause inflation,” he told Waters.
The House Financial Services Committee had convened to question the Treasury secretary about FSOC’s annual report — including discussion of risks tied to major bank failures in 2023, including Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank.
Watch the clip below:
🚨WATCH: Maxine Waters is telling Secretary Scott Bessent to shut up. His response is GOLDEN! pic.twitter.com/4x3N1KiPFI
— Alex Stone (@StoneJAlex) February 4, 2026
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