U.S. Congress
Here's a look at documents from all members of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate
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Chairman Comer Slams Democrats' Pro-Union Boss Bill Blocking Trump's Workforce Accountability Reforms
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 -- Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, issued the following news release on Dec. 11, 2025:
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Chairman Comer Slams Democrats' Pro-Union Boss Bill Blocking Trump's Workforce Accountability Reforms
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) today criticized Democrats for seeking to advance H.R. 2550, a pro-union boss bill that would prevent President Donald Trump from carrying out his agenda to bring federal workers back to the office, reform the bureaucracy, and restore accountability
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 -- Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, issued the following news release on Dec. 11, 2025:
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Chairman Comer Slams Democrats' Pro-Union Boss Bill Blocking Trump's Workforce Accountability Reforms
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) today criticized Democrats for seeking to advance H.R. 2550, a pro-union boss bill that would prevent President Donald Trump from carrying out his agenda to bring federal workers back to the office, reform the bureaucracy, and restore accountabilityacross the federal workforce.
Below are Chairman Comer's prepared remarks.
Americans pay several hundred billion in taxes each year to fund the salaries and benefits of more than two million federal civilian employees. These workers are paid to carry out the critical mission and functions of the federal government.
But the more than 340 million Americans who foot the bill do not directly manage federal Executive Branch employees. They elect a President to do that.
The President directs the workforce of the Executive Branch so he can fulfill his Constitutional duty to ensure the laws of the land are faithfully executed.
When President Trump ran for office last year, he told the American public that, if elected, he would return federal employees to their offices, reform the bureaucracy, and restore much-needed accountability to the workforce.
The American people chose to elect him to do just that.
But even before President Trump took office, federal collective bargaining legal authorities were weaponized to sabotage what Americans had voted for.
On their way out the door, lame-duck Biden Administration officials signed collective bargaining agreements with federal employee union bosses specifically designed to tie the hands of the incoming President Trump.
In January, at our very first hearing this Congress, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform heard testimony from President Biden's Social Security Commissioner, Martin O'Malley. He cut a deal with union bosses after the November election--and just before leaving the agency to run for chair of the Democratic National Committee. The deal locked in telework levels for tens of thousands of Social Security Administration employees for the entirety of the incoming Trump Administration.
To be clear, this was done specifically to "Trump-proof" the workforce--to force the incoming President to continue the failed management policies the public had just voted to end.
So we must ask: Are we going to uphold the President's Constitutional role as head of the Executive Branch?
Can he truly lead if he is held hostage by union deals to which he never agreed and were intended to undermine his authority?
Should an elected President be unable to bring taxpayer-funded federal employees back to work for his entire four-year term?
The American people do not think so.
That is why the House Oversight Committee adopted legislation that would allow the President to manage the workforce without being bound by last-minute union agreements designed to undermine him.
That legislation, the "Preserving Presidential Management Authority Act" sponsored by Representative Cloud of Texas, is the bill we should be debating here today.
It is important to remember that public sector unions are fundamentally different from their private sector counterparts.
In fact, none other than Franklin Delano Roosevelt--a major champion of private sector unions--believed that public sector unions made no sense.
FDR wrote that "the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service."
Why?
Because in the private sector, unions represent workers and sit across the bargaining table from representatives of business owners.
However, federal unions are not negotiating with a profit-seeking corporation. They are negotiating with the public's elected representatives.
As FDR put it, in the case of the public sector "[t]he employer is the whole people."
Federal unions, in other words, seek concessions not from private owners but from the taxpayers themselves.
And since federal salaries and benefits are determined by laws, which also establish basic civil service protections for employees, what exactly do federal unions bargain over? They bargain over other "conditions of employment"--like telework.
Unions also seek contract provisions that limit management's ability to hold employees accountable through disciplinary procedures or performance management processes.
I urge my colleagues to buck federal union bosses, put Americans first, and oppose the so-called "Protect America's Workforce Act."
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Original text here: https://oversight.house.gov/release/chairman-comer-slams-democrats-pro-union-boss-bill-blocking-trumps-workforce-accountability-reforms/
Chairman Bost Applauds Final Passage of FY26 NDAA, Locks Key Wins to Build Up Transition Assistance Program, Toxic Exposure Benefits Delivery
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 -- Rep. Mike Bost, R-Illinois, chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, issued the following news release on Dec. 11, 2025:
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Chairman Bost Applauds Final Passage of FY26 NDAA, Locks Key Wins to Build Up Transition Assistance Program, Toxic Exposure Benefits Delivery
Today, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.), released the following statement after the House passed S. 1071, The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, which included key Transition Assistance Program (TAP) reforms Chairman Bost secured in the final
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 -- Rep. Mike Bost, R-Illinois, chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, issued the following news release on Dec. 11, 2025:
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Chairman Bost Applauds Final Passage of FY26 NDAA, Locks Key Wins to Build Up Transition Assistance Program, Toxic Exposure Benefits Delivery
Today, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.), released the following statement after the House passed S. 1071, The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, which included key Transition Assistance Program (TAP) reforms Chairman Bost secured in the finaltext to add accountability in the program, modernize offered services, and improve pathways for servicemembers and their spouses to take TAP - a top priority for Chairman Bost. The final text also includes key provisions to build on the PACT Act by cutting back the paperwork burden for veterans who apply for VA disability compensation benefits and were exposed to toxins during their time in service.
Under current law, the TAP program must begin no later than 365 days prior to separation for those who are transitioning out of the military. While TAP has evolved over the years, the most recent Congressionally mandated report as well as committee oversight hearings have revealed that only 50% of transitioning servicemembers make it to TAP on time at the 365-day mark. This number is concerning, as the Committee continues to look at ways to improve TAP - both through legislation and oversight - to ensure that veterans are equipped with all the resources and knowledge of the VA benefits they are eligible for to prepare them for their next mission after they leave the military.
"As Chairman, I have met with servicemembers, and their families stationed at home and around the world and heard firsthand their struggles when it comes to navigating the transition from active-duty to civilian life. We have worked hard to move the needle on TAP to get servicemembers - regardless of rank - the best program that meets their individual needs, but there is always more work to be done," said Chairman Bost. "The provisions I secured in this year's NDAA build on our efforts and will bring needed improvements to TAP by requiring pre-transition counseling, improving methods for spouses to also attend TAP, modernizing the financial planning section, expanding the network of resources available to servicemembers and new veterans, and more," Chairman Bost continued. "These changes will make a real difference in our servicemembers overall experience with TAP, and I am grateful to my friend, Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, for working with me to secure these vitally important provisions in this year's NDAA on behalf of servicemembers and their families."
Chairman Bost fought for the following provisions which were included in the negotiated version of the FY26 NDAA:
Waiver for Certain Members of the Reserve Components - Provides a waiver for certain members of the Reserve, allowing them to attend TAP every three years, unless there is relevant new information.
Pilot Program for Military Spouses - Makes it easier for spouses to receive TAP information by creating a program specific to spouses and meet the needs that transition is an event for the whole family, not just the servicemember.
Enhanced Financial Planning Counseling - Expands TAP's financial guidance to include individualized counseling on loans, debt management, and overall financial readiness.
Strengthened Requirement for Separation Counseling - Ensures pre-separation counseling is delivered in person whenever possible to improve quality and engagement.
Tracking TAP Timeliness and Participation - Directs DoD to monitor when servicemembers begin TAP to improve accountability and ensure timely access to transition resources.
Improved Access to Veteran Resources - Requires VA to maintain an online resource hub allowing veterans and families to easily search by ZIP code for local programs and assistance.
Annual Reporting on TAP Outcomes - Mandates detailed yearly reporting on TAP participation, completion rates, and counseling timelines to drive program improvement.
Codification and Expansion of Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record
Automatic Inclusion of Exposure Data in Service Records - Ensures toxic exposures are documented during service, preventing veterans from having to prove exposures years later.
Improved DoD-VA Information Sharing - Grants VA clinicians, researchers, and benefits staff full access to exposure information, strengthening care, claims decisions, and long-term research.
Support for Faster, Fairer VA Claims - Provides VA with a veteran's complete exposure history upfront, reducing delays and unnecessary denials as new veterans apply for VA disability compensation benefits.
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Original text here: https://veterans.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=7812
Chair Cassidy Slams Democrats Voting to Raise Health Care Costs, Block Money to American Families
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 -- Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, issued the following news on Dec. 11, 2025:
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Chair Cassidy Slams Democrats Voting to Raise Health Care Costs, Block Money to American Families
Today, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, slammed Democrats for voting to raise health costs on millions of Americans and preventing families from receiving up to $5,000 to pay for care.
Cassidy's Republican legislation, introduced alongside
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 -- Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, issued the following news on Dec. 11, 2025:
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Chair Cassidy Slams Democrats Voting to Raise Health Care Costs, Block Money to American Families
Today, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, slammed Democrats for voting to raise health costs on millions of Americans and preventing families from receiving up to $5,000 to pay for care.
Cassidy's Republican legislation, introduced alongsideSenate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID), lowers insurance premiums by 11 percent, lowers out-of-pocket costs, and gives thousands of dollars directly to families to control their own care. This bill is an alternative to Democrats' temporary COVID bonuses, which send billions of tax dollars to giant insurance companies without lowering insurance premiums.
"Democrats want to force families to pay $6,000 out-of-pocket before their insurance kicks in. Republicans want to make health care affordable and put thousands in patients' pockets to help pay for their out-of-pocket expenses," said Dr. Cassidy. "Democrats need to stop playing politics with people's health care and come to the table to find real solutions."
Before the vote, Cassidy spoke on the U.S. Senate floor in support of the Republican legislation.
Cassidy has continuously called for Congress to work together on solutions to lower the cost of health insurance for families. Over the past few months, Cassidy has urged Congress to address rising health care costs in a Senate Finance Committee hearing, a HELP Committee hearing, and on the U.S. Senate Floor.
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Original text here: https://www.help.senate.gov/rep/newsroom/press/chair-cassidy-slams-democrats-voting-to-raise-health-care-costs-block-money-to-american-families
Chair Cassidy Delivers Remarks During Hearing on the Future of Organ Network, Strengthening Patients' Access to Lifesaving Organs
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 -- Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, issued the following news on Dec. 11, 2025:
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Chair Cassidy Delivers Remarks During Hearing on the Future of Organ Network, Strengthening Patients' Access to Lifesaving Organs
U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, delivered remarks during today's hearing on the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and improving access to lifesaving organs.
Cassidy's speech as prepared
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 -- Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, issued the following news on Dec. 11, 2025:
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Chair Cassidy Delivers Remarks During Hearing on the Future of Organ Network, Strengthening Patients' Access to Lifesaving Organs
U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, delivered remarks during today's hearing on the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and improving access to lifesaving organs.
Cassidy's speech as preparedfor delivery can be found below:
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will please come to order.
I'm a doctor who treated patients with things like Hepatitis B and saw at times that Hepatitis B or another illness would progress to the point where they needed a liver transplant. And if you need a liver transplant, you're going to die if you don't get a liver transplant. So, it's incredibly important.
In 1984, Congress created the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network - or OPTN - as a unique public-private partnership, supported by hundreds of dedicated volunteers and experts. Last year, doctors in the United States performed more than 48,000 transplants, the most in a single year.
In 2023, Congress passed the Securing the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Act, removing barriers in how the OPTN is managed; giving the Health Resources and Services Administration--or, HRSA--clear authority to improve the organ transplantation system in the United States.
For nearly four decades, the OPTN was managed and run in its entirety by one single government contractor. By breaking up the OPTN monopoly contract, we opened the door for more competition, transparency, accountability; better results for patients. It shows what happens when we drop our partisan jerseys, and work together to deliver a pro-patient, pro-family agenda for the American people.
But, there is more for Congress to do. There are over 100,000 patients waiting for a lifesaving organ. We've heard reports of patient's safety and dignity compromised and gross mishandling of organs, undermining public trust in the OPTN. 13 people die every day waiting for a transplant.
This committee has jurisdiction over the OPTN, with that jurisdiction comes a responsibility to make sure that the system is working as intended. AND is there a way to cut down on this 100,000-person backlog. Specifically, off waiting lists. We should improve transparency, protect patient safety, and restore trust. There are 100,000 Americans waiting for a miracle; we cannot fail them.
President Trump's administration is making this a priority.
As evidence by, implementing tougher performance and accountability measures for Organ Procurement Organizations--also called OPOs--and reduce financial barriers for living donors. I applaud the President's commitment to this issue and look forward to working closely with him on these efforts.
I also appreciate Senator Grassley's longstanding leadership on these issues. Together, we introduced OPTN Fee Collection Authority Act to ensure responsible management of the fees that fund the OPTN. It increases transparency, and encourages easy to implement, commonsense improvements, like automatic electronic referrals for donors. Senators Collins, Capito, Murray, and Baldwin, through their roles on the Appropriations Committee, have provided critical funding to modernize the OPTN.
These efforts give Americans hope and a better chance that they will receive a life transplant. It is pro-patient, pro-family, and Makes America Healthy Again.
I look forward to today's discussion on how Congress can support the Trump administration, the OPTN, and the entire transplant community to better deliver for the American people.
With that, I recognize Senator Sanders
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Original text here: https://www.help.senate.gov/rep/newsroom/press/chair-cassidy-delivers-remarks-during-hearing-on-the-future-of-organ-network-strengthening-patients-access-to-lifesaving-organs
At Hearing on FISA, Democrats and Republicans Agree on Urgent Need for Reforms to Protect Americans' Privacy Rights and Civil Libertie
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 -- Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, ranking member of the of the House Judiciary Committee, issued the following news release on Dec. 11, 2025:
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At Hearing on FISA, Democrats and Republicans Agree on Urgent Need for Reforms to Protect Americans' Privacy Rights and Civil Libertie
Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, led Committee Democrats in examining how more protections are needed to ensure Americans' privacy against unlawful government searches.
The hearing included testimony from: Elizabeth Goitein, Senior Director, Liberty &
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 -- Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, ranking member of the of the House Judiciary Committee, issued the following news release on Dec. 11, 2025:
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At Hearing on FISA, Democrats and Republicans Agree on Urgent Need for Reforms to Protect Americans' Privacy Rights and Civil Libertie
Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, led Committee Democrats in examining how more protections are needed to ensure Americans' privacy against unlawful government searches.
The hearing included testimony from: Elizabeth Goitein, Senior Director, Liberty &National Security, Brennan Center; Gene Schaerr, General Counsel, Project for Privacy & Surveillance Accountability; James Czerniawski, Head of Emerging Technology Policy, Consumer Choice Center; and Brett Tolman, Executive Director, Right on Crime.
With the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702 expiring next April, Congress must implement significant reforms and safeguards to protect Americans' privacy rights and civil liberties against government abuse.
* Rep. Becca Balint broke down the basics of Section 702, "This is the thing that I want Americans outside of this Committee, outside of Congress, to understand. Is anyone vulnerable to this?" Ms. Goitein affirmed, "If you communicate with foreigners overseas, you are vulnerable." Rep. Balint continued, "If you communicate with foreigners overseas, you are vulnerable to this backdoor search." Ms. Goitein explained: "Yes. I mean, the government has to have a foreign intelligence purpose for the Section 702 program. But foreign intelligence is defined so broadly that it can include information that simply relates to the U.S. conduct of foreign affairs." Rep. Balint replied: "So essentially, any person with an email account or a cell phone could potentially be a target of government surveillance by our government. And there's no requirement that the government get an actual warrant to spy on our personal communications."
* Rep. Pramila Jayapal asked: "Section 702 does not allow for the targeting of U.S. persons, and yet millions of Americans have been targeted for surveillance under this statute. Why is it important to protect everyone in the United States from warrantless surveillance?" Ms. Goitein explained: "First of all, as a constitutional matter, the Fourth Amendment protects everybody in this country. So, if you believe that a warrant requirement is a constitutional requirement--as a district court held a year ago, as a unanimous panel of the Second Circuit seemed to indicate in their earlier decision--then it applies to everyone in this country. But there are practical reasons as well. Just as collection of the communications of non-U.S. persons incidentally pulls in U.S. person communications queries, any query can incidentally retrieve the communications of Americans."
* Rep. Jayapal asked, "How would enacting a warrant requirement both protect Fourth Amendment rights while providing a clear process for the FBI to do its work?" Ms. Goitein replied: "The answer is to have the government get a warrant to put the burden of gatekeeping these searches where it belongs, which is with the courts. That would reduce the need for all of these layers of internal oversight and whatever sort of administrative paperwork and burden is associated with those layers. And it would also remove any motive that might exist for FBI agents to be excessively cautious. FBI agents would be free to do their job, to vigorously pursue investigations within the law and their professional obligations. And then the courts could do their job, the job that they do in pretty much every context except 702, which is to determine whether there is a lawful basis for this."
Technological advancements have made it easier for the government and private companies to conduct surveillance and collect and access people's private information.
* Ranking Member Raskin asked: "I'm troubled by the government's contracts with Palantir to create software that allows the government to assemble and combine previously siloed information, in particular departments, with data purchased from data brokers. Could you explain to the committee how purchased data can be used to compile comprehensive profiles of American citizens?" Ms. Goitein explained: "If all these pieces of data are shared across the government and put together, it could be possible to build dossiers on Americans. That would give a startlingly complete picture of their private lives, their associations, their habits, their beliefs. This is information that our government in a free society should not have access to, unless there is a specific justification for a specific purpose."
* Rep. Steve Cohen asked, "With AI, are we going to have more and more problems because there will be more and more data?" Ms. Goitein replied: "Absolutely. And I think with AI, we're going to have to really reexamine how 'U.S. person query' is even defined because, if AI is used in a way that can select U.S. person communications without actually using what we think of as U.S. person identifiers, then we are sort of right back where we were before, with really no limits on governmental access to U.S. person communications."
Donald Trump's removal of guardrails put in place to protect Americans' privacy and civil liberties raises new concerns about key government surveillance programs.
* Ranking Member Raskin said: "For years, the leaders of this Committee have warned of how executive branch surveillance powers could be abused by a president who didn't care about protecting civil liberties, who used cutting-edge technology to spy on Americans, and who ignored basic principles of due process and constitutional freedom to achieve their own ends. In 2025, we no longer have to wonder if we were right to worry."
* Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon said: "The importance of protecting Americans' essential rights and privacy has never been more clear than in the past year, when we've seen the current Administration, with respect to its allies at DOGE and the Department of Justice, mobilize the government to invade and collect Americans private data, whether Social Security, tax, student loans, health care, voter registration, or SNAP data. And when you add that to the growing purchase of online and social media data by the government, we see that data being used in illegal law enforcement activities and even prosecutions of this Administration's political enemies."
* Rep. Deborah Ross said: "The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) serves an important oversight role, especially regarding FISA. The board has published numerous reports and recommendations about the different surveillance programs, and released a report in September of 2023 about Section 702 that contained multiple recommendations to protect the rights of Americans. But in January, almost immediately after he was sworn in as President, Trump fired the Democratic board members, and the board now has one part-time member and lacks a quorum to begin new investigations or issue reports signed by the Board." Ms. Goitein highlighted PCLOB's importance: "The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is the only independent agency within the government that is charged with ensuring the protection of Americans' civil liberties. [...] If you don't have the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board doing its job, then all of the oversight that's coming from the executive branch will effectively be internal oversight."
* Rep. Hank Johnson said: "This President set up DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, and put it in the hands of Elon Musk and then unleashed Elon Musk to collect the private data of citizens through capturing the data of the Social Security Administration, the Treasury Department, the Office of Personnel Management, Health and Human Services, the V.A., the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, the Department of Labor, the Department of Transportation, and others. And the goal was to create a single centralized government database. And this effort was unprecedented and unauthorized by Congress."
* Rep. Jasmine Crockett said: "The most important part of making reforms to government surveillance programs is ensuring that Americans' privacy rights are not being violated, but that requires Congress to do its job and conduct oversight of these executive branch programs. [...] We can talk for hours about legislative reforms needed for FISA. But none of it will matter if Republicans refuse to conduct actual oversight, or if they continue to allow the Administration to dismantle federal oversight offices and positions."
* Rep. Joe Neguse explained: "To address, at least in part, some [...] 702 abuses, Attorney General Bill Barr in 2020 directed the creation of an Office of Internal Auditing. [...] That office, created by [...] President Trump's former Attorney General in the first term was designed to scrutinize the 702 process to prevent these kinds of abuses from happening in the future." In response to a question by Rep. Neguse on if this was a worthy goal, Republican witness Mr. Schaerr affirmed that it was. Yet, Mr. Shaerr was unaware that the office was eliminated by FBI Director Kash Patel earlier this year.
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Original text here: https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/at-hearing-on-fisa-democrats-and-republicans-agree-on-urgent-need-for-reforms-to-protect-americans-privacy-rights-and-civil-libertie
American Families Have Already Paid Nearly $1,200 Each in Tariff Costs Since Trump Entered Office
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 -- Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-New Hampshire, ranking member of the Joint Economic Committee, issued the following news release on Dec. 11, 2025:
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American Families Have Already Paid Nearly $1,200 Each in Tariff Costs Since Trump Entered Office
The Joint Economic Committee - Minority today released a new report estimating that American families have already paid nearly $1,200 each in tariff costs since President Trump took office. Combining Treasury Department data on the amount of tariff revenue collected across the first 10 months of Trump's term (February - November) with
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 -- Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-New Hampshire, ranking member of the Joint Economic Committee, issued the following news release on Dec. 11, 2025:
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American Families Have Already Paid Nearly $1,200 Each in Tariff Costs Since Trump Entered Office
The Joint Economic Committee - Minority today released a new report estimating that American families have already paid nearly $1,200 each in tariff costs since President Trump took office. Combining Treasury Department data on the amount of tariff revenue collected across the first 10 months of Trump's term (February - November) withindependent private sector estimates of the percent of each tariff dollar that is paid by American consumers, the Committee found that American consumers paid in total nearly $160 billion in tariff costs between February and November, an average of nearly $1,200 per family.
"While President Trump promised that he would lower costs, this report shows that his tariffs have done nothing but drive prices even higher for families," said U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan, Ranking Member of the Joint Economic Committee. "At a time when both parties should be working together to lower costs, the President's tax on American families is simply making things more expensive."
Read the full report on the cost of Trump's tariffs here (https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/a91a6318-8fce-4d3c-9686-2ad2ca7b6fba/jec-fact-sheet-on-cost-of-tariffs-for-families.pdf).
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Original text here: https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/democrats/press-releases?ID=95E4F61D-670F-4064-AA15-1FA613BB9819
Ahead of FSOC Meeting, Warren Presses Bessent on FSOC "Actively Sabotaging Its Own Authorities"
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, issued the following news release:
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Ahead of FSOC Meeting, Warren Presses Bessent on FSOC "Actively Sabotaging Its Own Authorities"
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary and Chair of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) Scott Bessent, ahead of the latest FSOC meeting detailing her concerns about FSOC's failure to identify
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, issued the following news release:
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Ahead of FSOC Meeting, Warren Presses Bessent on FSOC "Actively Sabotaging Its Own Authorities"
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary and Chair of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) Scott Bessent, ahead of the latest FSOC meeting detailing her concerns about FSOC's failure to identifyand address risks to the stability of the U.S. financial system under his leadership.
"I am writing to express my concern with the apparent failure of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), under your leadership, to execute its critical mission: identifying and addressing risks to the stability of the U.S. financial system," wrote Ranking Member Warren. "Over the course of 2025, the FSOC has met less frequently than it ever has before; meanwhile, at the rare meetings when it does convene, Wall Street deregulation is a standing agenda item, and the Council is actively sabotaging its own authorities."
The Ranking Member continued: "Taking this hands-off approach to financial stability would leave our financial system and economy at greater risk in any economic environment. But going down this path just as cracks are emerging in the financial system and yellow lights are flashing across our economy is especially reckless... The recent corporate bankruptcies of Tricolor, First Brands, and Renovo Home Partners could cause more than a billion dollars of losses for private credit lenders and banks. Given the poor underwriting and sloppy due diligence associated with all three blowups, there may be structural weaknesses in corporate credit markets that finance the riskiest business borrowers that are just beginning to rear their ugly head."
She concluded by pressing for information on FSOC's prior meetings this year and requesting confirmation that Secretary Bessent would provide his statutorily required testimony on FSOC's annual report by the end of next month should Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Tim Scott invite him.
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December 10, 2025
To: The Honorable Scott Bessent, Chair, Financial Stability Oversight Council, U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20220
Dear Chair Bessent:
I am writing to express my concern with the apparent failure of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), under your leadership, to execute its critical mission: identifying and addressing risks to the stability of the U.S. financial system. Over the course of 2025, the FSOC has met less frequently than it ever has before; meanwhile, at the rare meetings when it does convene, Wall Street deregulation is a standing agenda item, and the Council is actively sabotaging its own authorities.1 This erosion of financial stability oversight would be troubling at any moment, but it is especially dangerous as systemic risk in the financial system appears to be intensifying.2
A few of the most important lessons learned from the 2008 financial crisis were that risks can develop quickly across interconnected financial institutions and markets, fragmented oversight can increase the likelihood that regulators miss warning signs, and shadow banks can unequivocally pose systemic risk.3 Building off of these lessons, Congress established the FSOC in 2010, bringing together the heads of the federal financial regulatory agencies and arming them with new authorities to identify, monitor, and address risks that could destabilize the financial system and harm the economy.4 In recent years, the FSOC has consistently met to identify and discuss key issues facing the financial system and broader economy, such as private credit, commercial real estate, short-term funding markets, hedge fund leverage, and climate-related financial risk.5 From 2021-2024, the FSOC held an average of seven meetings a year.6 Since its first full year of operation in 2011, the FSOC has never met fewer than five times in a year.
But instead of working to identify and address threats to financial stability, the FSOC under your leadership will meet only four times in 2025 - and when it has met, it has coordinated a sweeping deregulatory agenda that undermines its own mission. Specifically, at your first Council meeting in March, you gave the banking agencies marching orders to slash safeguards that ensure megabanks finance a modest portion of their investments using their own money, instead of relying on excessive levels of debt.7 By the September Council meeting, the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency had issued a proposal to deliver on your request.8 Ahead of the December meeting, they had completed it.9 The agencies' final rule guts the enhanced supplementary leverage ratio (eSLR), a critical post-2008 crisis safeguard. The rule reduces loss-absorbing financial cushions at the nation's largest banks by more than $200 billion, shrinks their capacity to lend to businesses and households by up to $2.7 trillion, a nd increases the likelihood of big bank failures and taxpayer bailouts.10
Furthermore, at both the June and September meetings, you appear to have asked certain agency heads to go around the table and list their deregulatory achievements.11 In a remarkable display, the heads of the banking agencies ticked through a range of recent or forthcoming actions that would undermine the safety and soundness of the banking system and threaten financial stability.12 For example, the Acting Chairman of the FDIC read aloud a bulleted list of 27 deregulatory actions the agency was taking.13 Similarly, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Acting Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission provided an update on their efforts to deregulate the crypto asset sector and strip crypto asset investors of key protections.14 This emphasis on deregulation runs the risk of transforming FSOC meetings into a race to the bottom, with agencies competing over who can undo the greatest number of financial safeguards.
You are also actively undoing previous actions that the Council took to respond to emerging threats. For example, you announced that the FSOC will "revisit the guidance and analytic framework that the Council adopted in 2023, to promote alignment with our new direction."15 The 2023 guidance repealed the first Trump Administration's procedural red tape that effectively halted use of one of the FSOC's most important tools: its authority to subject systemically risky shadow banks to heightened oversight.16 In addition, FSOC previously identified climate change as an emerging and increasing threat to financial stability. In 2022, the Council established an internal staff committee and external advisory committee to help evaluate climate-related financial risks.17 Instead of building on this work, the Council recently voted to rescind the charters of both committees.18 Ignoring the clear financial stability risks posed by climate change does not eliminate them, it simply allows the risks to fester unaddressed. In addition, you cut the FSOC's budget by 32% and worked to cut the staff of the Office of Financial Research, the FSOC's data-driven research arm, by almost 50%.19
Taking this hands-off approach to financial stability would leave our financial system and economy at greater risk in any economic environment. But going down this path just as cracks are emerging in the financial system and yellow lights are flashing across our economy is especially reckless. In July, I wrote to you with concerns about potential financial stability risks and vulnerabilities related to the private credit market, particularly the extent to which nonbank financial companies' involvement in the private credit market and growing entanglements with the core banking system pose systemic risk.20 Since then, more alarm bells have gone off, as the Chair of UBS recently warned that "insurers shopping for better ratings on their private credit assets are creating a 'looming systemic risk' to global finance."21 It was recently reported that in 2025 alone, private lenders took over the management duties of at least 45 firms - more than double the number from last year.22 The recent corporate bankruptcies of Tricolor, First Brands, and Renovo Home Partners could cause more than a billion dollars of losses for private credit lenders and banks.23 Given the poor underwriting and sloppy due diligence associated with all three blowups, there may be structural weaknesses in corporate credit markets that finance the riskiest business borrowers that are just beginning to rear their ugly head.
The risks posed by private credit are not new. In its 2024 annual report, the FSOC noted that "rising interconnections with banks and insurance companies, limited transparency around private credit valuations, and increased retail investor participation in the industry via semiliquid investment vehicles may indicate expanding risks and are areas of focus for the Council."24 Yet in the June 2025 readout of the FSOC'S meeting, the "Council members discussed ways in which private credit can promote investment and access to capital."25 It is concerning to see the FSOC, under your leadership, promote a market that is showing increasing signs of distress. These credit risks are not the only potential threats to financial stability you are failing to address, as exorbitant leverage at large hedge funds, liquidity risks posed by short-term funding markets, credit risk in segments of the commercial real estate market, and others continue to intensify.
During your nomination process, when asked in questions for the record if you would faithfully execute the FSOC's mission to "(i) identify risks to U.S. financial stability; (ii) promote market discipline, by eliminating the expectations of public bailouts; and (iii) respond to emerging threats to the stability of the U.S. financial system," you confirmed that you would follow the laws as written, but have since failed to exercise FSOC's authority to fulfill these core responsibilities.26 Given the FSOC's current coordination of deregulatory actions and lack of response to emerging threats to the stability of the U.S. financial system, you are failing to fulfill your commitment to Congress.
To help me better understand the ways in which you have discarded the FSOC's statutory mission, I request that you provide the following documents and answer the following questions by January 10, 2026:
1. By statute, you must provide annual testimony to Congress on the FSOC's annual report. The last time that the FSOC Chair came to testify before Congress was February 2024. Please confirm that, if invited by Chairman Scott, you intend to testify before the Senate Banking Committee by the end of January 2026.
2. At a closed-door FSOC meeting in March 2025, you stated that you "had asked the banking agencies to begin the process of removing reputational risk as a basis for supervisory criticism."27 Please provide a copy of the written request or, if verbal, a description of the date, time, location, and content of the request.
3. At a closed-door FSOC meeting in March 2025, you stated that you "had asked the banking agencies to propose recommendations to ensure that the various leverage capital restrictions function as a backstop to risk-based capital requirements, not generally as the binding constraint."28 Please provide a copy of the written request and proposed recommendations or, if verbal, a description of the date, time, location, and content of the request and recommendations.
4. Please provide slide decks or other written materials presented at the March 20, 2025, FSOC Principals Meeting for the following agenda items:
a. Treasury Market Developments
b. Cybersecurity Developments
c. Insurance and Natural Disasters
5. Please provide slide decks or other written materials presented at the June 4, 2025, FSOC Principals Meeting for the following agenda items:
a. Bank Supervision and Regulation
b. Digital Assets
c. Commercial Real Estate
d. Corporate Credit
6. Please provide slide decks or other written materials presented at the September 10, 2025, FSOC Principals Meeting for the following agenda items:
a. FSOC FY26 Priorities
b. Review of 2023 guidance and analytic framework
c. Interagency tabletop
7. In your first 11 months as Chair, has the FSOC used any of its statutory authorities to mitigate risks to financial stability, including nonbank financial company designations under Section 113 of the Dodd-Frank Act, recommendations to agencies or Congress under Section 120 of the Dodd-Frank Act, payment, clearing or settlement activity designations under Title VIII of the Dodd-Frank Act, or financial market utility designations under Title VIII of the Dodd Frank Act? Explain.
8. With respect to its informal coordination function, has the FSOC coordinated any nonderegulatory actions that have strengthened the stability of the U.S. financial system? If so, please identify the supervisory or regulatory action that was executed to enhance financial stability.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Warren, Ranking Member, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
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1 U.S. Department of the Treasury, "Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Remarks at the Financial Stability Oversight Council," September 10, 2025, https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0241; U.S. Department of the Treasury, "Council Meetings," https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-markets-financial-institutions-andfiscalservice/fsoc/council-meetings.
2 Letter from Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jack Reed to the Fed, FDIC, and OCC, December 4, 2025, https://www.banking.senate.gov/newsroom/minority/warren-reed-call-on-banking-regulators-to-take-immediateactionto-address-cracks-in-credit-markets; Letter from Senator Warren to Secretary Bessent,July 17, 2025, https://www.banking.senate.gov/newsroom/minority/warren-calls-for-stress-test-on-private-credit-presses-ratingsagencieson-inflated-private-credit-ratings.
3 Southern California Law Review, "Regulating Entities and Activities: Complementary Approaches to Nonbank Systematic Risk," Jeremy C. Kress, Patricia A. Mccoy & Daniel Schwarcz, 2019, https://southerncalifornialawreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/92_6_Kress.pdf; Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, "The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report," January 2011, pp. xviii-xx, 386, https://fcicstatic.law.stanford.edu/cdn_media/fcic-reports/fcic_final_report_full.pdf.
4 U.S. Department of the Treasury, "Financial Stability Oversight Council," https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-markets-financial-institutions-and-fiscal-service/fsoc; U.S Department of the Treasury, "Council Members," https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-marketsfinancialinstitutions-and-fiscal-service/financial-stability-oversight-council/about-fsoc/council-members.
5 Financial Stability Oversight Council, "2024 Annual Report," December 6, 2024, https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/261/FSOC2024AnnualReport.pdf; Financial Stability Oversight Council, "2023 Annual Report," December 14, 2024, https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/261/FSOC2023AnnualReport.pdf.
6 U.S. Department of the Treasury, "Council Meetings," https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-marketsfinancialinstitutions-and-fiscal-service/fsoc/council-meetings.
7 Financial Stability Oversight Council, "Minutes of the Financial Stability Oversight Council," March 20, 2025, https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/261/FSOC_20250320_Minutes.pdf.
8 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Federal Reserve Board, "Agencies Request Comment on Proposal to Modify Certain Regulatory Capital Standards," press release, June 27, 2025, https://www.fdic.gov/news/press-releases/2025/agencies-request-comment-proposal-modify-certainregulatorycapital.
9 Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, "Agencies issue final rule to modify certain regulatory capital standards," press release, November 25, 2025, https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/bcreg20251125b.htm.
10 Financial Times, "Wall Street to trump Main Street with new bank rules," Sheila Bair, July 18, 2025, https://www.ft.com/content/553c0b1a-33d0-4b6c-a048-3a11064f5d3b; Federal Reserve Board, "Statement on Enhanced Supplementary Leverage Ratio Proposal by Governor Michael S. Barr," press release, June 25, 2025 https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/barr-statement-20250625.htm.
11 Financial Stability Oversight Council, "Minutes of the Financial Stability Oversight Council," June 4, 2025, https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/261/FSOC-20250604-Minutes.pdf; Financial Stability Oversight Council, READOUT: Financial Stability Oversight Council Meeting on September 10, 2025" September 10, 2025, https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0242.
12 Financial Stability Oversight Council, "Minutes of the Financial Stability Oversight Council," June 4, 2025, https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/261/FSOC-20250604-Minutes.pdf; U.S. Department of the Treasury, "Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Remarks at the Financial Stability Oversight Council," September 10, 2025, https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0241; Financial Stability Oversight Council, READOUT: Financial Stability Oversight Council Meeting on September 10, 2025" September 10, 2025, https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0242.
13 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, "Meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council," September 10, 2025, https://www.fdic.gov/news/speeches/2025/meeting-financial-stability-oversight-council.
14 Financial Stability Oversight Council, "Minutes of the Financial Stability Oversight Council," June 4, 2025, https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/261/FSOC-20250604-Minutes.pdf.
15 U.S. Department of the Treasury, "Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Remarks at the Financial Stability Oversight Council," September 10, 2025, https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0241.
16 U.S. Department of the Treasury, "Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Remarks at the Financial Stability Oversight Council," September 10, 2025, https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0241; U.S. Department of the Treasury, "FSOC Approves Analytic Framework for Financial Stability Risks and Guidance on Nonbank Financial Company Determinations," press release, November 3, 2023, https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1876; U.S. Department of the Treasury, "Financial Stability Oversight Council Issues Final Guidance on Nonbank Designations," December 4, 2019, https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm844.
17 U.S. Department of the Treasury, "Financial Stability Oversight Council Establishes New Climate-related Financial Risk Advisory Committee," press release, October 3, 2022, https://home.treasury.gov/news/pressreleases/ jy0987; U.S. Department of the Treasury, "FACT SHEET: The Financial Stability Oversight Council's Response to Climate-Related Financial Risk," October 21, 2021, https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/FACTSHEETThe-Financial-Stability-Oversight-Councils-Response-to-Climate-Related-Financial-Risk.pdf.
18 U.S. Department of the Treasury, "READOUT: Financial Stability Oversight Council Meeting on September 10, 2025," https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0242.
19 U.S. Department of the Treasury, "Financial Stability Oversight Council Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Information," https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/261/FSOC-Budget-Information-for-Fiscal-Year-2026.pdf; Office of Financial Research, "2025 Annual Report to Congress," p. 2, 46, https://www.financialresearch.gov/annual-reports/files/OFRAR2025.pdf.
20 Letter from Senator Elizabeth Warren to Scott Bessent, July 17, 2025, https://www.banking.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/20250717%20Letter%20to%20FSOC%20re_%20Private%20Credit %20Risk.pdf.
21 Financial Times, "UBS Chair warns of 'looming systemic risk' from private credit ratings," November 4, 2025, https://www.ft.com/content/73ee8c6d-3c04-425e-9d2c-ecbf2f376a4f.
22 Bloomberg, "Private Companies Are Being Taken Over by Lenders at Brisk Pace," Emily Graffeo, November 12, 2025, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-12/private-companies-are-being-taken-over-by-lenders-atbriskpace.
23 Letter from Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jack Reed to the Fed, FDIC, and OCC, December 4, 2025, https://www.banking.senate.gov/newsroom/minority/warren-reed-call-on-banking-regulators-to-take-immediateactionto-address-cracks-in-credit-markets.
24 U.S. Department of the Treasury, "2024 Annual Report," December 4, 2024, https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/261/FSOC2024AnnualReport.pdf.
25 U.S. Department of the Treasury, "READOUT: Financial Stability Oversight Council Meeting on June 4, 2025," https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/261/FSOC_20250604_Readout.pdf.
26 Scott Bessent Questions for the Record, January 16, 2025, on file with the Office of Senator Elizabeth Warren.
27 Financial Stability Oversight Council, "Minutes of the Financial Stability Oversight Council," March 20, 2025, https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/261/FSOC_20250320_Minutes.pdf.
28 Id.
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Original text here: https://www.banking.senate.gov/newsroom/minority/ahead-of-fsoc-meeting-warren-presses-bessent-on-fsoc-actively-sabotaging-its-own-authorities
