Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, delivered the following opening statement at a full Committee hearing entitled, “The Annual Testimony of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the International Financial System.”
Good morning. I’d like to welcome Secretary Yellen before our Committee today.
I want to first start out by noting that after the failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank, it was the leadership and swift action taken by Secretary Yellen and our banking regulators that prevented a banking crisis, protected our economy, and ensured that depositors in the United States remain safe. That’s not all. After months of Republican brinksmanship over our nation’s debt, Secretary Yellen did a masterful job of blocking out the lies coming from extreme MAGA Republicans by keeping Congress appropriately updated with the latest estimate of the “X date,” and ensuring our bills were paid on time.
It's this level of leadership that Secretary Yellen has also demonstrated on the world stage. Right now, climate change, global pandemics, and food scarcity pose major threats to the global economy. Now, after years of hostility and ignorance by officials appointed by the prior Administration, Secretary Yellen is helping to restore the image of the United States all around the world and among our allies, by pushing the World Bank, IMF, and other multilateral institutions to take serious action to tackle these existential threats before they get worse. Not only that, but under Secretary Yellen’s leadership, the United States continues to impose severe sanctions against Russia, has increased financial resources for countries in need by authorizing additional IMF Special Drawing Rights, and is promoting a strong and vibrant domestic economy by implementing transformational pieces of legislation like the American Rescue Plan, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Republicans, on the other hand, are failing to lead. They are actively denying that climate change exists, dismantling the government’s ability to respond to pandemics, cutting off food aid to struggling countries, blocking their own legislation in the House, and threatening to drive our global economy off a cliff.
It’s telling that on the same day that we are hearing about the Secretary’s and Treasury’s efforts to bolster the global economy, Republicans will also bend over backwards to defend the twice impeached and indicted former President Trump who is being arraigned for allegedly stealing and sharing some of the nation’s closely guarded secrets and willfully undermining efforts to protect those secrets.
The contrast between Democrats and Republicans is clear. After nearly tanking the economy, Republican infighting has ground the House floor to a halt. Make no mistake: Their extreme MAGA agenda is not extreme enough for their extremists. Thankfully, under Democratic leadership, the U.S. is stronger than ever. We’ve now had 28 consecutive months of strong growth, and during Biden’s tenure, created a record 13 million jobs, all while cutting inflation by more than half compared to last summer based on the latest Consumer Price Index numbers out this morning with further progress expected in the months to come. The Biden Administration and Democrats have shown what happens when you deliver legislation that puts working families first.
I now look forward to today’s testimony and I yield back.
###
