{"id":65411,"date":"2026-02-04T14:58:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T19:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/can-you-shut-him-up-waters-and-treasurys-bessent-clash-over-trumps-economic-agenda\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T14:58:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T19:58:23","slug":"can-you-shut-him-up-waters-and-treasurys-bessent-clash-over-trumps-economic-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/can-you-shut-him-up-waters-and-treasurys-bessent-clash-over-trumps-economic-agenda\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Can you shut him up?&#8217;: Waters and Treasury&#8217;s Bessent clash over Trump&#8217;s economic agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/person\/maxine-waters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maxine Waters<\/a>, D-Calif., and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clashed on Wednesday over President Donald Trump&#8217;s economic agenda, with the irate congresswoman asking at one point if someone could &#8220;shut him up.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The fiery exchange occurred during Bessent&#8217;s testimony before the House Financial Services Committee. Waters, the committee ranking member, posed a series of questions about the inflationary impact of Trump&#8217;s tariffs on American consumers \u2014 and demanded a yes-or-no answer.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/opinion\/liz-peek-trumps-economic-wins-real-now-he-needs-convince-country\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><strong><u>TRUMP\u2019S ECONOMIC WINS ARE REAL \u2014 NOW HE NEEDS TO CONVINCE THE COUNTRY<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Waters: <\/strong>So I ask you, Secretary Bessent, will you be the voice of reason in this administration and urge President Trump to stop waging a war on American consumers, harming housing affordability, and putting the economy at risk? Yes or no. You don\u2019t have to explain.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bessent: <\/strong>Representative\u2014<\/p>\n<p><strong>Waters: <\/strong>Will you be the voice of reason? Will you be the voice of reason?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bessent: <\/strong>A study from Wharton University has shown\u2014<\/p>\n<p><strong>Waters: <\/strong>Reclaiming my time. Reclaiming my time. Mr. Chair, will you let him know when I ask to reclaim my time\u2014<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rep. French Hill, R-Ariz., House Financial Services Committee chairman: <\/strong>The time does belong to the gentlewoman from California.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/politics\/complete-timeline-trumps-tariff-implementation-strategy-across-globe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>A COMPLETE TIMELINE OF TRUMP&#8217;S TARIFF IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY ACROSS THE GLOBE<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Bessent: <\/strong>Ten to twenty million immigrants\u2014<\/p>\n<p><strong>Waters: <\/strong>Can you shut him up?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bessent: <\/strong>What about the housing stock for working Americans? And can you maintain some level of dignity?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hill: <\/strong>The gentlewoman\u2019s time has expired.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Waters: <\/strong>No, my time has not expired.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hill: <\/strong>Your time has expired. The gentleman\u2014<\/p>\n<p><strong>Waters: <\/strong>The gentleman took up my time. I think you should recognize that, Mr. Chair.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hill: <\/strong>The gentlewoman\u2019s time has expired.<\/p>\n<p>Bessent&#8217;s testimony comes as the Trump administration awaits a Supreme Court ruling on whether some of the trade duties imposed in 2025 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/trumps-tariff-boom-hits-record-highs-supreme-court-showdown-looms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>exceeded presidential authority<\/u><\/a>, a decision that could have broad implications for current tariff actions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Tariffs are taxes levied on imported goods. Although they are paid by companies at the border, the costs are often passed along through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/politics\/bessent-defends-trumps-tariffs-against-claims-harm-us-businesses\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>higher prices<\/u><\/a>, leaving consumers to bear much of the burden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clashed on Wednesday over President Donald Trump&#8217;s economic agenda, with the irate congresswoman asking at one point if someone could &#8220;shut him up.&#8221; The fiery exchange occurred during Bessent&#8217;s testimony before the House Financial Services Committee. Waters, the committee ranking member, posed a series of questions &#8230; <a title=\"&#8216;Can you shut him up?&#8217;: Waters and Treasury&#8217;s Bessent clash over Trump&#8217;s economic agenda\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/can-you-shut-him-up-waters-and-treasurys-bessent-clash-over-trumps-economic-agenda\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about &#8216;Can you shut him up?&#8217;: Waters and Treasury&#8217;s Bessent clash over Trump&#8217;s economic agenda\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}