Nominations of Phelan for CEA Chair, Crews for NCUA Board, Ledbetter for HUD IG

Good morning. We call this hearing to order. I want to begin by welcoming each of our nominees and thank you for your willingness to serve our remarkable country. Uh, public service is obviously not easy. It takes sacrifice, patience and commitment to the American people. The roles before us today will have a significant impact. They matter for families trying to make ends meet. They matter for taxpayers who deserve accountability. They matter for financial institutions serving their communities. And they matter for the strength of our economy. This hearing is about getting qualified leaders in place so President Trump's agenda can move forward and these agencies can focus on the people they are supposed to serve. The American people elected President Donald J. Trump to bring down costs restore accountability, and put common sense back at the center of government. To do that, he needs his team in place. Agencies cannot operate at their best without steady, clear leadership and people ready to serve. Doctor Phelan, your nomination to chair the Council of Economic Advisors comes at a very important time. Families in South Carolina and across the country are still focused on the same kitchen table questions. Can I afford my mortgage or my rent? Can I find a good paying job? Can my small business continue to grow? And will my children have better opportunities than I had? Those are not abstract economic questions. They are real life questions for families throughout South Carolina and our country. Economic leadership matters because policy choices affect costs, wages, investment, growth and opportunity. I look forward to hearing how your decades of experience and sound judgment will help the president advance an agenda that strengthens the economy and makes life more affordable. Mister Cruz, your nomination to the National Credit Union Administration also matters for everyday Americans. Credit unions help families, workers, small businesses save, grow and buy a car, start a business and handle the unexpected costs that life throws your way. When the credit union system is strong and competitive, Americans have more choices, better access to affordable financial services. The NCUA needs a leader who understands safety and soundness, but also knows that unnecessary regulatory burdens can raise cost and limit access. Your experience in both Congress and the administration give you a strong understanding of how policy Decisions affects credit unions, their members, and the communities they serve, and I look forward to hearing how you will support a safe, sound, and competitive credit union system that works for everyday Americans. Mister Ledbetter, your nomination to serve as the Inspector General of the Department of HUD comes at a time when housing affordability is one of the greatest challenges facing our families. Taxpayers deserve accountability, families waiting for help deserve competence. HUD programs must work for the people they are intended to serve. Strong oversight helps make sure taxpayer dollars actually reach the families they were meant to help. I look forward to hearing about how, if confirmed, you would use your thirty years of experience in federal and military law enforcement to protect taxpayers and root out waste. Every single dollar lost or waste or mismanagement is a dollar that cannot be used to preserve affordable housing, assist renters, support homeownership, or address housing s- supply shortages. Together, these nominees represent an opportunity to strengthen economic policy, expand access to affordable financial services, protect taxpayers, and restore trust in important public institutions. At the heart of this committee's work is a simple belief, every family deserves a fair shot. at building a better life. That requires qualified leaders, sound judgment, and a government focused on people, not politics. These nominees should be judged on their qualifications, experience, and commitment to serving the American people, not simply on who nominated them. I look forward to your testimony and to working with my colleagues to move qualified nominees forward. Senator Warren, now recognized for her opening statement.

Uh, thank you, Mister Chairman. American families are facing an affordability crisis. They're being squeezed by rising costs and this administration's response has been a one-two punch of indifference and gaslighting, disguised as economic policy. Grocery prices just had their biggest hike. In years, gas prices are up forty percent. Just since the start of the year, a third of American households report struggling to pay their utility bills. And more and more Americans are falling behind on their credit card debt. Meanwhile, President Trump is building his six hundred million dollar gilded ballroom, with half of it being paid for by American taxpayers. And when asked about the rising costs from his illegal war with Iran, Trump said, "I don't think about American's financial situation." Let that sink in. The man who started a war that's driven inflation to higher and higher levels, and made families pay forty-three billion dollars more just on gasoline in the last three months, told Americans that their financial pain isn't even on his radar. But I guess we shouldn't be surprised. Trump has made clear that he is spending this presidency making himself and his buddies vastly richer and letting the American people pay the price. And when Congress actually did something to lower costs, Trump stood in the way. This week, the Senate and House passed our twenty first century Road to Housing Act, with overwhelming bipartisan support, legislation that will help us build more housing, bring down costs, and for the first time ever, stop private equity from snapping up homes that families are trying to buy. Uh, we should have been here today, celebrating its becoming law yesterday. Instead, president trump refused to sign it it is the latest example of a president who doesn't think about families doesn't care about lowering costs and in his own words quote loves the inflation today this committee has another slate of president trump's nominees nominees who will be expected to defend implement and try to excuse trump's willingness to turn his back on american's financial worries Starting with Doctor Phelan, the nominee to chair the Council of Economic Advisors, which advises the President on economic policy. Earlier this week, we held a hearing on affordability. That's a word that President Trump last week dismissed as, quote, a fake word made up by the Democrats. As CEA Chair, Doctor Phelan would be responsible for advising the President on every tool the White House has at its disposal to bring down costs. But to do that job, he must first be willing to tell the truth. Trump's chaotic tariffs and reckless war with Iran are driving up costs for American families. A CEO chair who won't say that plainly is not an economic advisor, he's just a mouthpiece. And if Mister Phelan cannot be honest, about the problem, then he will have no credible plan to fix it. I'm gonna start sharing my boards.

To the point.

Mister Cruz has been nominated to chair the National Credit Union Administration. Credit unions need a stable and thoughtful regulator, especially as smaller financial institutions work to

Hmm.

remain competitive in the face of AI and cryptocurrencies. Undermining the board's independence now, at this moment of transition, puts the members that credit unions serve at greater risk. And yet, when we met, Mister Cruz was so beholden to Trump's wackies that he was unwilling even to acknowledge the law or the merits of having a full bipartisan board at the NCUA to support its work. Mister Ledbetter, you have been nominated to be the Inspector General at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Now, I appreciate your stated commitment to Inspector General Independence. But this administration has demonstrated a shocking willingness to browbeat and to fire I G's whose sin is that they follow the law. Independence on paper means nothing if it collapses under Trump's pressure. The acting H HUD, IG is already engaging in politically driven efforts to punish blue cities, while failing to hold HUD accountable for illegally dismantling civil rights enforcement. And all this happens right in the middle of a housing crisis. This committee should not simply wave through nominees who will be on the front lines of implementing Trump's disastrous policies. Americans are paying higher and higher prices while they watch the Trump administration spend their tax dollars on gold leaf instead of lowering costs. Americans deserve nominees who won't just bow down to President Trump, but will stand up for working people in this country. Thank you, Mister Chairman. I yield back.

Thank you, ma'am. I'll announce who are in the nominees. Will you please stand and raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth to help you God?

I do.

Thank you. Do you agree to appear and testify before any duly constituted committee of the Senate? Thank you. You may sit down. Your written statement will be made part of the record in their entirety. Each of you will have five minutes to share with us your thoughts. We'll start with Doctor Phelan. You are now recognized.

Thank you, Senator Scott, for your very kind introduction, Ranking Member Warren, distinguished members of the committee. It is my great honor to be before you today as President Trump's nominee to be Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors. I consider myself privileged to have had the opportunity to meet many of you uh through this process and to receive your valuable input regarding this important position. The Council of Economic Advisors matters because the American economy matters. The economy isn't about numbers. It is people's lives. My promise to you is that if I am entrusted with this position, I won't allow the vital role of the council to be poorly performed due to any lack of effort on my part. I thank President Trump for nominating me. But I also wish to thank my wonderful wife of thirty-eight years, Liz, and our five children, Moira, Celia, Madeline, Joseph, and Lucy, now all outstanding adults who make us both very proud. Liz's love, support, and frankly patience with me while raising our children has made whatever professional accomplishments I have had possible. My late father and mother would be respectively aged ninety-nine and ninety-six today. And thus it would be unreasonable for me to regret that they did not to live live to experience this great honor with me. I nevertheless do regret it. They raised six baby boomers in a time of great societal upheaval, the youngest being me, and were very proud and frankly boastful about all of us. I owe them for the cherished and continuing support I get from my sister and my brothers. Looking back at my life so far, I can do nothing but wonder at my undeserved good fortune. At my undergraduate university, Duke, I had the great pleasure of the attention of fantastic professors who ment- taught and mentored me while also annually seeing Michael Jordan, James Worthy, and Ralph Sampson regularly crush our hopes in basketball. In graduate school at Chicago, I not only met my wife, but also was taught by six Nobel Prize winners and was mentored by a man, Robert Townsend, now at MIT, who treated me better than I could ever repay forward to my own students. As a professor and researcher, at the University of Wisconsin, Northwestern University, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and the University of Minnesota, I have been both colleague and friend to some of the greatest minds in economics. I can only hope and pretend some rubbed off on me. In reviewing your decision regarding my nomination, I owe you my approach to both the council and the specific p- position of chairman. I see the role of the council in any administration. Republican or Democratic, as being a voice of sober facts and analysis. Politics is not a bad word. It is essential to the governing of a free society. But there needs to be a place at the table, at least internally, for non-political analysis. In the creation of our, the council, our lawmakers quite deliberately created the Council of Economic Advisors, not the Council of Economic Policymakers. It is imperative that the chair of the council understands this. I do. Regarding the role of the chairman specifically, I see it as facilitating and coordinating such economic analysis within the CEA itself and working with those without outside the CEA, members of the administration, agencies, departments, Congress, and the public to advance our common goal of an economy which enables genuine human flourishing. I have not yet outlined my specific areas of interest and concern. My goals as an individual for economic policy. I have them. I care very much about financial stability. I care very much about generational issues. Leaving in the words of the preamble to the constitution, our posterity, a better country than the one we inherited ourselves. I care very much about making the economy one where every individual believes with justification that he or she is getting a fair shake. And I will work when appropriate to further these individual goals of mine. But these will not be my main focus, because this position is not about me or my individual goals. My relentless focus will be that the Council of Economic Advisors accomplishes mission of helping the elected government of this great republic through its well-defined and appropriate role using words from the legislation which created the council to develop and recommend to the president national economic policies to foster and promote free competitive enterprise, including small and large businesses, to avoid economic fluctuations, or to diminish the effects thereof, and to maintain full employment, production and purchasing power. Thank you and I look forward to your questions.

Thank you, sir. Mister Cruz, the floor is yours.

Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Warren, Committee members, I am honored to have my nomination considered by you today. I would like to thank you and your staff for for meeting, taking the time to meet with me and discuss my nomination. As a former Senate staff member, I understand how valuable your time is and how many competing demands there are in your schedules. I'm honored to be nominated to be a board member of the National Credit Union Administration by President Trump. I appreciate the trust and support that the President has placed in me. I also appreciate the support I have received Oh, thank you. Thank you. I also appreciate the the support I have received from Treasury Secretary Besson and my many colleagues at the Treasury Department. most importantly i need to thank my family for their love and support my amazing wife and kids jean jack and josey as well as my mom and dad megan jack my decade and a half of government service is focused almost exclusively on financial services in that time i have been fortunate enough to spend almost ten years either working on the banking committee or working with members of the banking committee work on important bipartisan legislation like the economic growth regulatory relief and consumer protection act better known as s twenty one fifty five the Otto Warmbier Brink Act, and the Cares Act, are highlights of my time working with the committee. I am proud of the bipartisan work I have been able to do throughout my government service. And my work on financial regulatory policy has left me with a deep appreciation for the importance of tailoring laws and regulations. If confirmed, I look forward to working with credit unions to ensure the safety and soundness of the credit union system, while also recognizing the u uniqueness of their cooperative nature and their unique size. i'm lucky to have worked for an extraordinary group of bosses like senator to me larry kudlow majority leader and secretary. i seek to emulate their dedication and diligence everyday on the job. if confirmed i will endeavor to lead ncaa as they might. that is i will be thoughtful and steady in my leadership. and i will listen to stakeholders in the credit union movement. and in the agency. to ensure all views are heard as they execute. the agency's strategic agenda. If confirmed, my primary focus at NCUA will always be safety and soundness and resilience of the credit union system. To that end, I have several policy priorities that I hope to pursue. First, NCUA must be efficient, effective, and risk-based in its supervision. The overwhelming majority of credit unions are quite small. They need and deserve a regulator that respects their limited resources. An efficient risk-based approach to supervision has the added benefit of allowing NCUA to deploy its limited resources to where they are needed most. Second, NCUA must be ready for technological innovation within the credit union system. The current NCUA chairman, Kyle Hauptman, has prioritized technological innovation at NCUA and within the credit union system. I hope to build and expand on his work, responsible advancements, such as stable coins, AI or otherwise, improve member experiences, and provide new pathways to reach the underserved. Finally, I hope to support de novo chartering of credit unions. I understand that it is incredibly challenging to create a new credit union or bank, but de novos are a priority for the unit administration and they're a priority for me. New credit unions are a sign of health within the credit union system, and they often reach new underserved communities. We need to do more to support new market entrants. When credit unions and their members are thriving, the American dream is thriving. In twenty twenty five, almost twenty eight percent of credit union lending was for auto loans. Another fifty seven percent of loans were for mortgages in real estate. A first car or a first home are quintessential milestones in the American dream. For many Americans, these milestones are possible because of their local credit union. If confirmed, I look forward to working with Congress, my counterparts in the administration, and with the staff at NCUA to support the safe and sound operation of credit of a credit union system that delivers on its members' financial needs. Thank you again for considering my nomination. I look forward to answering your questions.

Thank you, sir. Mister Ledbetter, the floor is yours.

Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Warren, and distinguished members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today as you consider my nomination to serve as the Inspector General for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. I'm deeply honored by the trust placed in me by President Trump. I'm also honored to be here today with my wife, Reika, who has been steadfast in her support of me throughout my career and throughout this confirmation process. If confirmed, I look forward to working with this committee and all members of Congress to ensure robust independent oversight of HUD and its program participants. I've served my country as a soldier and public servant for thirty-six years. More than thirty of those years have been dedicated to federal law enforcement across six presidential administrations from both political parties. In my career, I've never wavered from the foundational commitment to objectively apply facts and law completely independent of political considerations. Should I be confirmed for this position, I commit to doing the same as Inspector General. The Inspector General community was my professional home for most of my law enforcement career. serving both as a special agent and as a leader with the Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General. I directed complex, multi-jurisdictional investigations in partnership with nearly every major federal law enforcement agency and many other offices of Inspector General. I've personally conducted a supervised work, returning more than one hundred million dollars to the federal government. Highlighting the breadth of my experience, I was honored to serve during my career on the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, a Homeland Security Investigations Task Force, and the International Contract Corruption Task Force in Baghdad, Iraq. My law enforcement career is not limited, however, to the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General. It started as a soldier and a special agent with US Army Criminal Investigation Division, a role I continued in the US Army Reserve. I ultimately reached the rank of Chief Warrant Officer five, the most senior rank available to a special agent in the US Army. With several tours of active duty service, I gained significant executive experience by commanding the largest army CID detachment in history and leading personnel that provided global security for the secretary of defense and other senior Pentagon officials. If confirmed by the US Senate, I will bring decades of investigative and leadership experience to HUD And look forward to working with the professional staff of HUD OIG. I understand firsthand the importance of timely, thorough, objective, and independent oversight work that prevents and detects fraud, waste and abuse, and protects whistleblowers. And promotes efficiency, effectiveness, and economy. Should I be confirmed, I'm committed to delivering this work and the unvarnished truth to the secretary and Congress, ensuring that both are fully and currently informed. My career has equipped me with the investigative expertise, management acumen, and moral courage necessary to safeguard taxpayer dollars and the integrity of HUD's mission. I'm honored by your consideration today. Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.

Thank you very much. I'll start our round of questions. We each uh get five minutes to ask questions uh and then we'll try to stay as tight as possible. Doctor Phelan, uh one of the questions I have is about the correlation between the regulatory burdens that place, uh, that government places on the American people and the impact it has on inflation. Uh, I my assumption is that under President Trump we've seen, uh, relaxing of the regulatory burden which ultimately is a good thing. And someone said that the cost of, uh, those burdens could be as high as twenty one hundred dollars per family of four, and regulatory costs passed down. Uh, your thoughts on the regulatory, the correlation between the regulatory burden Uh, and inflation.

Thank you, Senator, and th- thank you for meeting me in in in your office. Uh. Regulatory burdens matter. Uh, the CEA, which I'd be honored to, uh, if if confirmed, has a crew of excellent PHD economists. One of the, they came out recently on simply the cost of the regulatory burden when it comes to housing can be as high as a hundred thousand dollars per house. Uh. In general, regulat- you know, what you need is an economy that creates new businesses, that creates, uh, new opportunities. And having to go through red tape is quantitatively a significant burden, uh, to doing so. And it can separate, uh, an economy like ours versus an economy in other countries. One of the things I like to say is the most innovative companies in the world, in the world, Nvidia, SpaceX, Tesla, uh, Apple, these are all American. Uh, that points to a, a severe, uh, advantage that the United States has. Uh, and it can be made better through deregulation as this administration is doing.

I will say the, uh, much celebrated, at least by the members of the Senate, uh, housing bill that we've asked uh actually reinforces the notion that there is a way for us to impact positively affordability and I believe it was Senator Rounds who has a bill on NEPA reform, and as part of that it that NEPA reform could

Mm-hmm.

accelerate the path to building more houses faster without the hurdles, hundred thousand dollar hurdle that you just suggested. I think it's an important part of the equation how we long-term have impact on the housing market. I'll ask you it's it's Uh, second question is relates to the time that you and I spent in my office. We talked a lot, little bit about artificial intelligence, and you made a couple of comments that I thought was helpful. Uh, let me preface it with this though.

Mm-hmm.

The average person in our country is rightfully concerned about a technology they know so little about. Uh, we know about search engines. We know about three or two or three companies, but we have a lot to still learn about the impact, positive or negative, of artificial intelligence on this country. I think ultimately it can have a positive impact, but without any question, when you think about job disruption, electricity costs, uh impact on rural parts of our country, uh many Americans throughout South Carolina where they're building a nine billion dollar data center, and Charleston metropolitan area and another one in upper part of the state. Many Americans are very concerned about the initial impact from a job perspective, as well as some of the undue burdens that could be placed on them as opposed to the AI companies. Any any thoughts on how we've seen the transformation in our economy over the last hundred years or so based on technology?

Thank you, Senator. Yes, I remember our conversation about that. And I believe what I said was whenever something comes up, I, as an academic, look back at history. And that the history of technolog technological innovation, uh, we used to have eighty percent of the people working on the farm in this country, just to keep the rest of us from dying from caloric deprivation. Now it's about one to two percent. Uh, and that was due to productivity gains. Uh, there used to be, uh, entire job classifications associated with connecting a phone from one person to another. This ability, so, AI I see as a very promising technology, but it, to me, it falls within what we have seen before and what we have, the technological improvements that we've seen before allow us to have the economy that we have.

Thank you. Uh, I'll say to Senator Lomis, I no longer suffer from caloric deprivation. Appreciate the comment, though. Senator Wharton.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, Dr. Phelan, if you are confirmed, your job would be to advise President Trump on economic policy. The Council of the Economic Advisors is, quote, charged with offering the President objective economic advice, not political advice. objective economic advice. So let's go through a few objective facts. Americans are spending more on everything from gas to groceries. Prices are rising faster than paychecks. And Trump's one big beautiful bill rips away health care coverage for fifteen million people in order to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and giant corporations and it adds four point seven trillion dollars to the national debt. And that is why we need someone who will tell the truth about the economy and not just say whatever it is the president wants them to say. So, you have a PHD in economics from a very prestigious university. You've been a professor for nearly thirty years. You've taught thousands of students by this point. On paper, you look like someone who should be able to provide objective advice. So, I have some questions and quite frankly, I hope they are really easy questions for you. President Trump promised to bring prices down on quote day one. Is headline inflation higher today than it was in February twenty twenty five?

Thank you, Senator. Um, headline inflation now is certainly lower than it was during the Biden administration.

I'm sorry, come on, let's not play this game. You heard my question. President Trump was sworn in in January, twenty twenty five, under the promise he would lower costs on day one. The question I'm asking is, is inflation, headline inflation, today higher than it was in February, twenty twenty five? It's a fact question.

Thank you, Senator. There's a reason economists tend to focus on core inflation, and that is because food and energy is quite volatile.

OK, can you give me the answer?

Core inflation is lower than when presidents uptook office.

Can you give me, we'll do core. Can you give me the answer on headline inflation? I don't wanna know how fast you can dance. I wanna know if you can answer simple factual questions. That's all I'm looking for here.

Thank you, ranking member. I do not know exactly what the headline inflation was on January twentieth,

Two point eight percent.

twenty twenty five.

So, answer the question, is headline inflation higher today than it was in February twenty twenty five?

Headline inflation now, uh, the last one was year over year, four point two percent.

OK, so is four point two percent higher than two point eight percent.

Ranking member, yes it is.

Oh, wow. Was that so hard? You know, you're gonna be the guy called on to give real facts. So let me try another one. Doctor Phelan, is annual inflation higher than wage growth today?

Thanking, thank you, ranking member. There has been, since President Trump took office, weekly inflation-adjusted earnings are higher now than they were the day President Trump took office.

The question I ask you is inflation higher than wage growth right now. In other words, even if families are getting raises, on average are they falling behind because of inflation?

Thank you, ranking member. I do think it's important to have an appropriate time frame when considering anything like this.

Now, that's your time frame. The question is, I just want a fact,

Inflation adjusted wages are lower than they are now.

if somebody says to you, today our family is getting ahead or falling behind, you got one word to answer that. What's your word?

My word is at. Real wages are higher now.

At? That's your one word?

Real wages are higher now than they were at the beginning of Trump's administration.

At? All right, let's play it this way. You've already told me inflation is four point two percent, right? What's the annual wage growth right now? It's just a fact question.

Thank you, Senator. I do not have that in front of me right now.

It's three point four percent. So let's put this one together. Is four point two higher than three point four?

I will repeat what I said, which is real wage growth in this administration is positive.

The it is right now, families are falling behind. And I gotta say, I can keep this one up, fact after fact, but you have now made clear what your position is. And that is you can't even do the basic facts. I didn't even get to the hard questions here, about what this means. I just wanna start with what the facts are. These are facts that come out of the Trump administration. They're there for anybody to see. And you can't bring yourself as the person who sits there and says, i wanna be the head of the council of economic advisors oh i'm sorry to give objective economic advice and you can't even say yeah inflation is running higher than wages right now

ok and we're still gonna try to keep it on behalf of the chairman to five minutes

fair fair enough uh i think this person has disqualified himself in five minutes

and on behalf of the chairman i'll call on myself next uh and um let me just follow up a little bit doctor fail in a And and I know we've been talking a little bit and the ranking member is talking point to point. I'm just curious. Most people, at least in South Dakota, care deeply about how much money they have to spend. A lot of what that depends on is not only how much they have in wage growth, they also talk about how much money they have after taxes. Can we talk a little bit about the importance of the big picture, in terms of what happens when you put into effect also the working family's tax cut program, which republicans have passed and is now in law, coming up on a one year anniversary. We're talking about at least in South Dakota it looks like almost a thirty seven hundred and fifty dollar real cash reduction in taxes on a per family basis. In fact, we're talking about almost sixty three hundred dollars average for an American family in terms of uh additional money in their pocket along uh a after you take into account the working family's tax cuts reduction and what the federal government is taking from families. Isn't it true that really what most Americans at least people in South Dakota care about is is how much money they've got to spend on daily expenses and so forth. Can you talk a little bit about that and how people feel about that and how economists look at that?

Thank you, Senator, and thank you for meeting me, uh, in your office. The Working Families Tax Cut Act I see as an incredibly important, uh, accomplishment of this body, uh, because it took away what would have been either the largest or one of the largest tax increases on almost everybody in the economy. The two thousand seventeen tax cut act, uh, had major portions of it that would have expired. I saw the uh both the expiration, the potential expiration of tax cuts on individuals and many of the major reforms for how we tax corporations and so forth that were absolutely needed in two thousand seventeen uh as a sort of damocles over the economy. Uh, just we have seen a boom in investment. Uh, we've consumer spending has been very strong. Uh, and part of that, which by the way is a way of households showing confidence in their future, uh, all of this I saw as being made possible by not forcing through, uh, or by inaction, having implemented one of the largest tax increases that we would see.

Yeah, I, I, I think we're really talking about for most Americans how much money they've got in their pocket to spend. And then you have to take into account not only their real wage increases, but then you also have to take into account the the amount that we're not taking from them in terms of additional taxes. That gives them more money to spend. I'm just curious. You know, we've been talking a little bit now, and I really appreciated our conversation when we talked about E fifteen and putting and talking about what the impact would be of a voluntary E fifteen nationwide availability of of basically liquid fuels with fifteen percent ethanol embedded in it on a voluntary basis and what the impact would be on gas prices, once again bringing gas prices down. But I noted this morning, um, you know, we've had, during the time in which the president correctly went in and addressed the issue of a of of a possible nuclear-armed Iran, he did that because as Commander-in-Chief that's his responsibility and those are tough decisions to make. But during that same time, he, he also prepared the people and he says, " Look, we're not gonna be in it for long." But during that time period, fuel prices, oil prices went up. But I noted this morning that West Texas crude is down below seventy dollars a gallon. It's, matter of fact, or seventy dollars per barrel, sixty nine and some odd cents right now. Can you talk a little bit about the impact on inflation that that will have as we move forward, as we have a reduction in the price of a barrel of crude and that it takes some time for that to come back into the economy. Can you share a little bit about how you look at that, uh, uh, as, as an economist, and what that does for prices for the average American?

Thank you, Senator. I did look at, uh, the price of West Texas Intermediate this morning. It is nine percent below what it was when President Trump took office.

It's down nine percent?

Uh.

OK.

If I did my math correctly on my phone.

OK.

Uh, in general June inflation, June isn't finished yet, but it's almost finished. Uh, if gas prices stay at they at they were, we'll have a significant impact on headline inflation for June. That's just the arithmetic. Uh, so, look

So, it it's still coming, but it's coming fairly quickly.

Under the assumption that gas prices stay where they are now for the next seven days, or something like that.

It'll impact it. And my My time is expiring, but I I did wanna make just wanna you mentioned the the chairman had given me credit earlier for for some changes in the NEPA regulations that are gonna really make it less expensive, I believe long-term for housing, but I wanted to share it was a bipartisan effort with Senator uh Smith as well, from Minnesota that we did this together and and I think that's something that will stand the test of time and will help to bring down the price of housing as well. But thank you and Mister Chairman, I'll yield back.

Thank you, Senator. cortez masto

yes i i i will defer to my colleague senator yes

senator reed

ok thank you very much mr. chairman uh dr. fillin uh you mentioned the generational issues that we're facing one of them is a credible reconcentration of wealth in the one percent of americans something that was uh we saw in the gilded age and uh and we made progressive changes to to to fix that for working people uh thirty two percent of the total wealth is now controlled by one percent of the people that is uh a new record according to the federal reserve uh and consumer spending uh is being driven by that group of people unusually uh very expensive home abilities houses etcetera uh last year president trump added to their uh benefits with about a two hundred and fifty thousand per year tax cut for these people uh you've been talking about uh a working tax out of several thousand dollars which has already been eclipsed by the terrorists and the war in iran um how do we reorient our policy so that working americans start to share in this wealth that's being generated and frankly captured by the a very few people

thank you senator and thank you for our conversation in your office i enjoyed it immensely the Right now, I think America is the best place in the world to be a participant in the economy at any level. We've had, uh, we are the envy of the world in terms of job growth, wage growth, standard of living growth. Uh,

So,

so, as a

why is roughly seventy percent of the population so concerned about their economic future, about affordability, uh, and a startling fact, a huge majority of people saying that they believe that their children will not enjoy the same kind of uh life that they did.

Thank you, Senator. In general, one of the reasons I mentioned earlier, uh, about consumption growth being very strong was Economists tend to discount uh survey data because talk is, you know, people I like to look at what people do versus what they say. When someone decides to spend, that is a vote with their own dollars that they believe that in their future. And spending, uh, consumer spending has been quite strong. Uh.

As I said, most of that is being led by the wealthiest americans uh most working americans in my state and up in south dakota across the country are struggling with very high gas prices with very high grocery prices with a sense of uh one paycheck to one paycheck and uh uh the administration i don't think is responding effectively let me quickly say a subject if you were asked as the chairman of the capital economic advisors uh whether the president should veto the road bill What would your advice be?

Thank you, Senator. I'm firmly believe that the most important word in the Council of Economic Advisors is the last one, advisors. And that I would advise on economic issues as mandated by the Jobs Act, which created the job that I'm being asked, being considered for by this body. Uh, I have no expertise on political questions, like I said I do not consider politics a big problem.

Uh your address, I want you to address is an ec- economic question. W- would the benefits of this legislation be positive, contribute to more affordability for housing, which is one of our greater challenges. This is just an economic issue.

If the president asked the council to produce a report on what would be the effect of this law, I would be happy to provide accurate numbers.

Thank you very much. You you won't respond. i appreciate that i i don't wanna feel that you gentleman are completely ignored and neglected first uh mister ledbetter thank you for your service to united states army uh i learned never to mess with a warrant officer a particular w five uh one thing i would like you to do is commit to uh enforcing the fact that many times hud is not putting money out they're delaying it deliberately and And I think with the political motivation as Inspector General, I would hope you would ensure that the money is distributed on time and to the proper target.

Well, good morning, sir.

Good morning.

I uh, just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to meet with me during this.

Yes, sir.

And as uh, we discussed in your office, I I don't have the specifics on on the program you mentioned, however, uh, I do commit to reviewing any matters that you or your staff uh, that may be of uh concern to you at any time. So if there's an issue out there that needs my attention, and it's important to you, then I will commit to meeting with you and discussing it.

Mister Grues, welcome and good luck. Thank you.

Thanks, Senator Rees. Senator Morrino, the floor is yours.

Grues.

No, Senator.

Ah, because there isn't one. Uh, so just wanna make sure we got that under record.

In terms of uh inflation, uh, mister, uh, doctor. What would be the effect on inflation and gas prices if Iran dropped a nuclear bomb in a European city?

Thank you, Senator Marino, and thank you for meeting with me. Uh. That is the kind of question that I firmly believe that one of the main advantages of economists is the ability to put a number on something. That's not something that one does lightly. So if I were asked that question by your office, by anybody else's office, there's a great crew of uh PHD economists at the council, and I would ask you, how quickly do you need an answer?

Well, but somebody as unsophisticated as a former car dealer would say it would be extraordinarily high and catastrophic and believing we wouldn't be talking about uh four dollar a gallon gas. It would be basically a depression generating massive explosion to the Without. Which is eighty percent inflation versus eighteen, but it would be extraordinarily bad as uh they say in the movies, uh very very very bad, right?