Rep. Maxine Waters and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clashed during a congressional hearing after Bessent told her that her argument about inflation did not make sense. The California Democrat repeatedly said, “Reclaiming my time,” as Bessent attempted to answer her questions about prices and President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. The exchange eventually led House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill to intervene.
The exchange happened on September 15th, 2026, during Bessent’s annual testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on the state of the international financial system. Waters, the committee’s ranking Democrat, used her allotted time to question the Trump administration over inflation, Treasury yields, tariffs, the national debt, and the economic effects of the war with Iran. She repeatedly demanded yes/no answers while speaking over Bessent when he tried to explain his position.
Waters began by pointing to the cost of beef, gasoline, electronics, health care, and other household expenses. She claimed that the average American was paying $3,500 more because of the administration’s policies and accused Trump of dismissing the affordability crisis. Waters also brought up rising Treasury yields, noting that the 10-year yield had reached 5% while the 30-year yield had risen to levels not seen since 2007.
“Mr. Secretary, do you agree that these high Treasury yields or interest rates on Americans’ bonds mean that loans paid by families to fix a roof or buy a car will also be expensive? Yes or no?” Waters asked during the committee’s hearing. Bessent responded that the U.S. bond market had been the best-performing major bond market in the world, but Waters immediately began talking over him. The 10-year Treasury yield reached 5.041% that day, its highest level since 2007, as Reuters reported.
“Yes or no, Mr. Secretary,” Waters said before repeatedly declaring, “Reclaiming my time. Reclaiming my time. Reclaiming my time.” When Bessent continued trying to respond, Waters warned, “You keep talking, I’ll keep reclaiming my time.” She then abruptly shifted from Treasury yields to tariffs and inflation. “Turning to your trade policy, if tariffs are not inflationary, as you claimed in your previous testimony, then why has inflation increased by more than 3% over the past year?” Waters asked. “Do you deny that inflation is too high at 3%? Yes or no?” Bessent responded, “Representative Waters, you’re not making sense.”
Watch the heated exchange here:
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Waters continued demanding a yes-or-no response. “Yes or no, Mr. Secretary,” she said before launching into another string of “Reclaiming my time” declarations. She repeated the phrase seven times as Bessent continued attempting to answer from the witness table. Waters then turned to Chairman Hill after apparently missing his ruling during the commotion. “I didn’t hear you, Mr. Hill. What did you say?” she asked. Hill replied, “I said it’s the gentlelady’s time,” prompting Waters to ask, “Does the time belong to the gentlelady?” Hill answered, “Indeed. Indeed it does.”
Waters used the remainder of her time to criticize Bessent and Trump over government spending and the national debt, which had surpassed $40 trillion in August. “You and President Trump, the so-called conservatives, you have overseen an increase in the debt to a record $40 trillion,” she said. “You have promised reduced deficits, but delivered only higher numbers and pain for American households.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.