'Can you shut him up?' House Democrats clash with Bessent in fiery hearing
House Democrats clashed with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday during a fiery hearing on Capitol Hill that devolved into shouting matches and throwing sharp elbows.
"Can you shut him up?" Rep. Maxine Waters of California, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, at one point asked Chairman Rep. French Hill of Arkansas as Bessent repeatedly spoke over her question and ignored her repeated "reclaiming my time" declarations.
"Can you maintain some level of dignity," Bessent hit back.
Waters and Bessent were going back and forth over President Donald Trump's tariffs, particularly on home building goods.
Throughout the hearing, which was to be focused on the annual report from the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which monitors the stability of the U.S. financial systems, Democrats made the same "reclaiming my time" declaration as Waters.
Another tense exchange came during Massachusetts' Rep. Stephen Lynch's questioning of Bessent on a slowdown in investigations into corporations, asking if that concerned the secretary.
As Bessent began to blame the Biden administration, Lynch interjected: "Please be responsive to my question."
"I am, sir," Bessent replied. "And this back and forth is just eating into your time."
Lynch then appealed to Rep. French Hill of Arkansas, the Republican chair of the committee, "Mr. Chairman, the answers have to be responsive if we're going to have a -- if we're going to have a serious hearing here."
"Well, the questions have to be serious," Bessent shot back.
On several occasions, Hill had to remind Bessent to allow the members to speak as it was their allotted time.
During a line of questioning on if Treasury planned on using the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, used to generate economic growth in underserved communities, for housing projects, Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio and Bessent got into a shouting match.
"I'm trying to be respectful, but you're not going -- you're not going to do what you want to do on my time," Beatty said after Bessent didn't give her an up or down answer to a question: "Yes or no, or you can say, 'I'm not going to answer it' and I'll move on."
"Uh, number three," Bessent said.
"OK, so let the record show that he refuses to answer a question," she said.
As Bessent began to interject, Beatty said, "No, no, we're not going to do that with me. We are not going to do that with me."
Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York asked Bessent about reports that Trump's cryptocurrency firm sold a $500 million stake to a member of the Emarati royal family shortly before Trump's inauguration and if he would "halt it and do a complete investigation and scrutiny of this licensing application?"
Bessent said the agency that would oversee that is an independent one. Then he pivoted to asking Meeks about a 2006 trip he reportedly took to Venezuela.
"You traveled to Venezuela to lobby Hugo Chavez on behalf of your donor..." Bessent began.
"I take that as a no. You do not want to answer that question. I take that as a no..." Meeks responded.
"For 7 billion..." Bessent continued.
After Hill told Meeks he was past his time, Meeks shouted at Bessent, "Stop covering for the president. Don't be a flunky. Work for the American people. Work for the American people. Don't be a coverup for a mob."
At one point, Hill reminded participants about the House's rules of decorum.
Republican Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky apologized to Bessent.
"I think what we're learning from this hearing, Mr. Secretary, is how much Trump derangement syndrome is a threat to emotional stability," he told Bessent. "There's been a lot of lectures directed at you today."
Democrats condemned the tone of the hearing.
"Unfortunately, this is an embarrassing kind of a hearing," Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri said. He later added, "I've learned that you can't make honey and sting at the same time. The question is whether we came here today to sting or whether we came here to talk about issues that are of importance to the nation."
Rep. Juan Vargas of California said he would forgo asking his planned questions because of the conduct displayed during the hearing.
Vargas then turned to Hill.
"Mr. Chairman, we've had some very good hearings recently. This was not one of them," Vargas said. "This is not your finest day, and it's too bad, because I think you're a very competent person."
