Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, delivered the following opening statement during a full Committee markup.

“Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Good morning, everyone. Since the last time this full Committee convened, economic conditions for our nation’s consumers and investors have grown even worse. And this is due entirely to the harmful policies of Donald Trump.

American families are facing mounting economic anxiety and uncertainty about their future and their economic outlook is grim, evoking painful memories from the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2008 financial crisis.

Families are putting major decisions on hold like starting a family, buying a car, or taking the first steps toward achieving the American Dream by purchasing a home. Not to mention, small businesses are worried about whether they’ll have to close. These concerns have grown following Trump’s declaration that there will be more tariffs to come. What’s more, the dollar is down, and yields are up. This means higher costs for families.

And on Friday, Moody’s downgraded the U.S. credit rating because of the damaging effects of Trump’s tariff policies and concerns about the government’s existing debt levels. If Republicans pass their tax scam bill, they will hand trillions of dollars in tax breaks to the likes of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, while raising costs for families by slashing Medicaid, food stamps, and dismantling important regulators like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

America’s lowered credit rating will drive up costs even more. Let’s face it, this isn’t the Golden Age Trump and Republicans promised, this is the Trump Slump, and while Trump and his insiders won’t feel the pain – my constituents do. 

I and Democrats on the Committee have long sought to pass legislation to support small businesses, from setting aside $60 billion for small lenders to lend to the smallest of businesses during the pandemic to $12 billion for Community Development Financial Institutions, Minority Banks, and Credit Unions. Those measures were bipartisan. In fact, I negotiated both of those deals with Trump’s first Treasury Secretary. And today, Democrats will again work with the opposite side of the aisle and show that we will support any bills this Committee can offer to help small businesses, especially as they are burdened by Trump’s economic policies.

Nevertheless, it is disappointing that none of these bills before us address this economic crisis. Instead, Committee Republicans are proposing bills that will strip retirement savings from hardworking teachers and healthcare workers and weaken investor protections – even while Trump continues to undermine our markets with his crypto scams.

If this Committee won’t take on Trump, we can at least pass legislation to help community banks and credit unions. But the bills before us today just miss the mark. I implore the Chairman to engage with Democrats on his community bank agenda. There are dozens of Democratic bills that have enjoyed broad bipartisan support in previous years that should be considered in any community bank package. We have bills that support Community Development Financial Institutions and bills that finally respond to the Silicon Valley Bank failure two years ago. So, I hope the Chairman will work with us on this topic going forward.

Let me be clear, Democrats want to rebuild the economy and clean up the mess created by Trump. But we cannot do that if Republicans are too afraid to acknowledge there is a crisis. In the meantime, Democrats will continue fighting for legislation that ends consumer rip offs, strengthens the banking system, protects the hard-earned savings of our retirees, supports small businesses, and shields investors from scams – especially at the hands of the President of the United States.

And so, I hope our Republican colleagues can muster the courage to join us.

And I would like to thank the Chairman today for explaining that sometimes we have a few difficulties as it relates to procedure, but he has apologized. I accept his apology, and I will work with him on those kind of issues.

Thank you so very much, and I yield back.”

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