Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, delivered the following opening statement during a full Committee hearing entitled, “The Annual Testimony of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the International Financial System.”

As prepared for delivery

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning. I’d like to welcome you, Madame Secretary, before the Committee today and applaud the work under both your leadership and President Biden’s leadership. The Biden-Harris Administration is fighting every day for people by:

• Creating 15.7 million new jobs;
  
• Doubling the average monthly number of jobs created during Biden's term when compared to Trump's first 3 years before the pandemic;
  
• Increasing wages and wealth broadly; and,
  
• Steering our economy out of the throes of a pandemic made worse by the previous Administration.
  

I also applaud President Biden for never backing down in the face of opposition. When the Supreme Court blocked his plan to cancel student debt, President Biden sought other ways to help America’s student loan borrowers. To date, the Biden Administration has forgiven $144 billion in federal student loans for nearly 4 million borrowers.

This is what it looks like when we have a leader who puts the well-being of the American people first. From signing into law the American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – which are making the U.S. economy the strongest in the world – to taking on companies saddling Americans with illegal junk fees and cutting child poverty in half – our economy is stronger because of President Biden.

I also commend Secretary Yellen’s work to stabilize the banking system after last year’s regional bank failures, as well as deploying $12 billion for CDFIs and MDIs, and $10 billion for small businesses through the State Small Business Credit Initiative. I am working on a bill to build on the success and effectiveness of SSBCI and look forward to working with you on that.

And there is still more work to be done, especially on issues like housing, and President Biden has made housing a top priority of his Administration. On the other hand, the MAGA operatives have made their priorities loud and clear. They have conceived a 920-page plan to undermine our government, our social safety net, and our values as Americans. Project 2025 is so diabolical, so insidious, and so disturbing that everyone in this country needs to read it. They need to read it so they can understand the plan to take away their rights, their freedoms, and their democracy and turn this country into a Christo-fascist state. You can read this garbage at www.project2025.org.

Now, Project 2025 was written by former Trump White House staffers, Trump Administration officials, and the ultra-right wing Heritage Foundation. In addition to banning abortion and contraception, abolishing the Department of Education, and taking over the Department of Justice – just to hit a few of the lowlights – Project 2025 would gut agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Reserve, and dangerously restructure the Treasury, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and other agencies critical to the economy. 

Moreover, Project 2025 describes plans to withdraw from international financial institutions, like the IMF and World Bank, both of which have advanced U.S. democratic ideals all around the world.

I yield back.

###