Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, delivered the following statement during a Monetary Policy, Treasury Market Resilience, and Economic Prosperity Task Force hearing entitled, “Striking the Right Balance Sheet.”

“Thank you so very very much. I appreciate so very much Mr. Vargas and Mr. Lucas and this hearing that you have put together, and I would love to engage with you about the balance sheet, but we should not be talking about anything, but the independence of the Fed, our central bank.

A few days ago, President Trump again escalated his attacks on the Federal Reserve, this time through grand jury subpoenas threatening criminal prosecution of the Fed’s Chair, Jerome Powell. This comes after months of Trump bringing baseless accusations against Fed Governor Lisa Cook to remove her from her position. Next week, Cook’s case will be before the Supreme Court, and I expect they will reject Trump’s power grab. That’s because Trump’s attacks are not about transparency or accountability, it’s about his desire to control the Fed, interest rates and our money supply to serve his agenda and not to fulfill the Fed’s statutory mandates.

I commend Chairman Hill and others for speaking up, but this Committee, with its clear authority over the Fed, must take a bigger role in defending the Fed’s independence.

I yield back.”

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