Sylvia Garcia TORCHES Scott Bessent Over Poverty, Tariffs & Trump Economics

Ajouté : 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and and thank you to the secretary for being with us today. I want to start first by just clarifying your testimony and its delivery.

[00:00:09]Why did you ask for your witness statement to be embargoed until this morning?

[00:00:15]Sorry, ma'am. Pardon me.

[00:00:17]Your testimony reads right at the very top embargoed until delivery, which means that we didn't follow the usual practice of this committee of getting the testimony 24 hours in advance so that committee members can review it and prepare for questions. Yours was posted at 10:01. The committee was at 10:00. Well, it looks like you didn't need to >> I my my staff is just telling me that it's it's standard practice.

[00:00:42]It's your standard practice. It's not our standard practice.

[00:00:47]As a committee.

[00:00:48]I'm told that it was standard practice.

[00:00:51]Okay, you were told by whom, sir? Sir, the my my comms team and legislative affairs team working with the committee.

[00:01:00]Well, Mr. Chairman, I think for the record, I think you should clarify to to the gentleman that that is not our standard and I know that at least I didn't know anything about this until I got it here and I don't think our committee staff on the Democratic side was even notified that we would be getting all your testimony late. I just wondered you know, why you had made that request and clearly at the top embargoed until delivery.

[00:01:24]Well, embargoed to delivery, I think that's mostly meant for the press.

[00:01:29]That's We're not press, sir. We're the We're the members of Congress that have oversight. So, Mr. Chairman, I would hope that that you not condone this kind of late submission. It just doesn't help frankly for for some of the atmosphere that's created when we all just sit down and we still don't have your your your testimony.

[00:01:47]Well, then it you know, we just sort of don't feel really good about that. It's It's not our custom.

[00:01:53]>> I I appreciate the importance that you put on my statement.

[00:01:55]>> Well, thank you. Notice its important, sir. Um Do you know what the poverty rate is in our country?

[00:02:01]I I believe that the poverty level the is a fixed number. No, do you know the poverty rate in this country? I I believe it is in the teens. In the teens. Okay, well, it's about a little over 11%. It just strikes me that most of all of your testimony is always about the tax cuts and cutting cutting costs and and it's always about tax cuts and it's always about the rich.

[00:02:26]I But nothing is ever said about poor other than you suggesting that you worked yourself No, no, ma'am. No tax on tips, no tax on social security, no tax on overtime. Sir, I read your testimony this anywhere in here.

[00:02:39]That That is not in here.

[00:02:40]I am referring to your testimony and what I've listened to. I said right up front, I can see you and I can hear you.

[00:02:47]You've not said one thing about what we're doing to help the poor. In fact Even when we were talking even when we were talking about the car seats.

[00:02:56]You know, that that impacts poor people more than anyone else because not only can they usually not even afford a car seat and have to go to a garage sale to find one. Now it's going to be even higher. You know, your your president is suggesting that he wants to give a $5,000 bonus to women to have babies and then what? Just leave them out on the cold alone, no car seat, no food.

[00:03:20]I No Medicaid. No medi- no cheap program.

[00:03:24]>> tell you And I'm asking you right now, sir. The worst thing for working families will be the expiration of the 2017 tax cuts.

[00:03:31]>> just about the inflation rate. It's not just about the GDP. It's not It's also about making sure that we keep the poverty rate in this country low. There are people who are living in poverty that never have lived in poverty before.

[00:03:44]You know, you also failed to say here you you say unemployment remains low.

[00:03:49]I mean, that sentence should have read unemployment went up.

[00:03:52]Uh ma'am >> Because it did. Uh under the Biden administration it has been stagnant.

[00:03:56]>> we're not talking about Biden's so we're talking about your testimony here today about the current president and his plans cuz I can tell you I'm from Houston. I'm concerned too about some of the terrorism on on energy. You know, we we have done a lot to increase trade in Houston, construction, everything after the pandemic.

[00:04:16]And all things were growing. Everything has been growing. But now that the Trump tra- uh Trump terrorists have have surfaced it is threatening Houston's economy. I represent the area where the almost the entire ship channel uh is in.

[00:04:31]The petrochemical companies all are in my district. The port is in my district.

[00:04:35]Everybody is trying to figure out what the hell we're going to do.

[00:04:39]Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia delivered an emotional and confrontational challenge to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, accusing the Trump administration of obsessing over tax cuts and corporate priorities while ignoring struggling Americans living paycheck to paycheck.

[00:04:53]What began as a dispute over the late release of Bessent's testimony quickly escalated into a broader indictment of the administration's economic agenda, tariffs, and social priorities.

[00:05:04]Garcia's opening attack focused on transparency and process.

[00:05:08]She sharply questioned why Bessent's testimony had been embargoed until delivery, preventing lawmakers from reviewing it ahead of the hearing.

[00:05:16]While Bessent insisted his communications team told him it was standard practice, Garcia rejected the explanation outright, arguing that Congress, not the press, deserves timely access for oversight.

[00:05:28]The exchange immediately created tension and signaled that Garcia intended to aggressively challenge both the substance and the handling of the administration's economic policy.

[00:05:37]But the hearing truly intensified when Garcia pivoted to poverty in America.

[00:05:42]Her question sounded simple at first. Do you know the poverty rate in this country?

[00:05:46]Yet the exchange exposed a much deeper political divide.

[00:05:51]Besent stumbled through a vague response, saying he believed the poverty level was in the teens before Garcia corrected him and pointed out that more than 11% of Americans still live in poverty.

[00:06:01]From there, she accused the administration of constantly centering wealthy Americans and tax policy while barely acknowledging the economic pain facing poor and working-class families.

[00:06:11]Garcia's criticism was not merely statistical, it was personal and vivid.

[00:06:15]One of the most striking moments came when Garcia mocked what she viewed as contradictions in Trump-era family policy.

[00:06:21]She referenced proposals offering cash incentives for childbirth while simultaneously warning about cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and social safety net programs.

[00:06:30]Her argument was blunt. Encouraging families to have children means little if those same families cannot afford health care, child care, or basic necessities afterward.

[00:06:40]Throughout the exchange, Besent repeatedly attempted to redirect blame toward the previous administration, arguing that extending Trump-era tax cuts and maintaining economic growth would benefit working families.

[00:06:52]Garcia refused to allow the conversation to shift backward.

[00:06:56]Again and again, she interrupted attempts to focus on Biden-era inflation, insisting the hearing should address current economic realities under the Trump administration.

[00:07:06]Politically, the hearing revealed two competing visions of economic success.

[00:07:10]Besent emphasized tax relief, GDP growth, deregulation, and broader economic indicators.

[00:07:17]Garcia focused on affordability, poverty, health care access, and the lived experience of ordinary families.

[00:07:24]Their exchange exposed a widening divide between policy makers who argue that strong macroeconomic growth eventually lifts everyone and critics who believe those gains are bypassing millions of struggling Americans.

[00:07:36]The confrontation became especially powerful because Garcia framed economics not as an abstract debate about markets, but as a moral question about who government policy actually serves.

[00:07:46]Her repeated insistence that it's not just about GDP captured the heart of her argument that rising stock markets and tax policies mean little to families who cannot afford groceries, rent, health care, or child care.

[00:07:59]By the end of the hearing, Garcia had transformed what could have been a routine budget discussion into a broader referendum on economic inequality, poverty, and the human consequences of fiscal policy.