Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testified before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday on the international financial system and the U.S. economy, and the session included a heated exchange with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), 88.
During his testimony, Bessent cited economic data he said reflected favorably on the administration’s record, including private-sector job growth exceeding 1 million, wage growth he said was outpacing inflation, larger wage gains for the bottom 25 percent of earners compared with top earners, and tax relief from what he referred to as the Working Families Tax Cuts.
Waters pressed Bessent on inflation and tariffs, asking, “If tariffs are not inflationary, why has inflation increased by 3 percent?” As Bessent began to respond, Waters repeatedly interrupted, invoking the procedural phrase “reclaiming my time” multiple times to cut off his answer.
Bessent responded at one point, “You’re not making sense if you believe tariffs are inflationary,” before Waters again talked over him, repeating “Reclaiming my time!” several times in succession. Video of the exchange circulated widely on social media following the hearing.
The exchange is part of a broader pattern of contentious committee hearings in which lawmakers use the “reclaiming my time” rule — a House procedure allowing a member questioning a witness to reclaim the floor from that witness — to limit or cut off testimony they don’t want to hear in full.
Inflation reached as high as 9 percent during the Biden administration, a period during which Waters was a member of the majority party in Congress.
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