Treasury Sec Testimony Turns to Insults02/05 06:18

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- A hearing about oversight of the U.S. financial system 
devolved into insults several times Wednesday as Treasury Secretary Scott 
Bessent clashed with Democratic lawmakers over fiscal policy, the business 
dealings of the Trump family and other issues.

   Appearances by treasury secretaries on Capitol Hill are more typically known 
for staid exchanges over economic policy than for political theater, but 
Wednesday's hearing of the House Financial Services Committee hearing featured 
several fiery exchanges between the Republican Cabinet member and Democrats, 
with Bessent even lobbing insults back to the lawmakers.

   Bessent called Rep. Sylvia Garcia "confused" when she questioned how 
undocumented immigrants could affect housing affordability across the country, 
prompting the Texas Democrat to snap back, "Don't be demeaning to me, alright?"

   Bessent later mocked a question from Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., about 
shuttered investigations into cryptocurrency firms. Lynch expressed frustration 
with Bessent's interruptions, saying, "Mister Chairman, the answers have to be 
responsive if we are going to have a serious hearing."

   Bessent replied, "Well, the questions have to be serious."

   After a back-and-forth over whether tariffs cause inflation or one-time 
price increases for consumers, California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters asked 
committee leaders to intervene with Bessent: "Can someone shut him up?"

   And in a fiery exchange with Rep. Gregory Meeks over the Abu Dhabi royal 
family's investment into the Trump family's World Liberty Financial 
cryptocurrency firm last year, the New York Democrat dropped an F-bomb as he 
shouted at Bessent: "Stop covering for the president! Stop being a flunky!"

   The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment 
on the fireworks.

   Bessent's performance was "not a role you typically see a treasury secretary 
play," said Graham Steele, a former assistant secretary for financial 
institutions under Biden-era Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. The department 
has traditionally "been removed from some of the day-to-day, hand-to-hand 
political combat," Steele said in an interview.

   He recalled his former boss having tense exchanges over climate change and 
policy issues with Republican lawmakers during committee hearings, but the 
exchanges were not personal, he said, noting treasury secretaries have to 
strike a "delicate balance" of working with the White House while safeguarding 
the "economic stature" of the country internationally.

   In recent months, Bessent has ratcheted up his insults when it comes to 
Democratic leaders.

   He has called California Gov. Gavin Newsom "economically illiterate," 
compared him to the fictional serial killer Patrick Bateman, and called him "a 
brontosaurus with a brain the size of a walnut." He has on several occasions 
called Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren an "American Peronist" after she 
told American financial institutions not to finance the Trump administration's 
massive support package for Argentina.

   Bessent's combativeness is, in part, a sign of the times, said David Lublin, 
chair of the Department of Government at American University's School of Public 
Affairs.

   "President Trump has shown he likes belligerence and he likes nominees and 
others who defend him vociferously," Lublin told The Associated Press.

   "It's hard to say that this is unusual for this political environment. What 
used to be the normal modicum of respect for Congress has frayed to the point 
of vanishing," Lublin said.

   What was unusual, in Lublin's view, was for Bessent to reveal his thoughts 
on monetary policy -- normally the purview of the Federal Reserve -- and his 
insistence that Trump has the right to interfere with the decision-making of 
the central bank. "You have a cabinet secretary defending the president's 
efforts to erode institutions," Lublin said.

   On Thursday, Bessent will get another opportunity to spar with lawmakers. He 
is scheduled to appear before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs 
Committee on the same topic: the annual report by the Financial Stability 
Oversight Council, which Bessent leads.